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Consumer Corner: Holiday shoppers gearing up to open their wallets
CHICAGO, -- Tight-fisted Americans may be ready to explode. Retail experts are predicting a much better holiday shopping season than last year, largely due to pent-up demand.
Since the worst recession since the Great Depression began at the end of 2007, Americans have kept their hands on their wallets, sending sales plummeting and giving the Grinch a run for his money.
Archstone Consulting says all that's about to change. In a holiday shopping report to be published Monday, Archstone predicts 1.5 percent growth. That compares to only 0.4 percent last year and a 3.9 percent drop in 2008.
And Archstone is not alone. IBISWorld Inc. is forecasting a 1.8 percent uptick in all holiday sales, which account for 20 percent of annual retail sales, and the National Retail Federation is predicting a 2.3 percent jump.
The season officially kicks off with Black Friday, Nov. 26, although retailers promoted pre-holiday shopping with such gimmicks as Christmas in July and a throwback to days of yore with layaway plans.
"With slow growth in the U.S. economy, high unemployment, tight credit and foreclosure-related stress in many parts of the country, we do not anticipate a record beating Black Friday," said Dave Sievers, strategy and operations practice leader for Archstone Consulting, a division of The Hackett Group.
"This recession has certainly changed shopping and consumer patterns … Retailers and manufacturers alike are actively changing strategies and tactics to react to those changes."
Sievers predicted shoppers will be looking for bargains yet again, with many putting luxury items back on their wish lists. At the same time, shoppers are sticking more closely to their shopping lists, eschewing impulse buys and still delaying large purchases.
CHICAGO, -- Tight-fisted Americans may be ready to explode. Retail experts are predicting a much better holiday shopping season than last year, largely due to pent-up demand.
Since the worst recession since the Great Depression began at the end of 2007, Americans have kept their hands on their wallets, sending sales plummeting and giving the Grinch a run for his money.
Archstone Consulting says all that's about to change. In a holiday shopping report to be published Monday, Archstone predicts 1.5 percent growth. That compares to only 0.4 percent last year and a 3.9 percent drop in 2008.
And Archstone is not alone. IBISWorld Inc. is forecasting a 1.8 percent uptick in all holiday sales, which account for 20 percent of annual retail sales, and the National Retail Federation is predicting a 2.3 percent jump.
The season officially kicks off with Black Friday, Nov. 26, although retailers promoted pre-holiday shopping with such gimmicks as Christmas in July and a throwback to days of yore with layaway plans.
"With slow growth in the U.S. economy, high unemployment, tight credit and foreclosure-related stress in many parts of the country, we do not anticipate a record beating Black Friday," said Dave Sievers, strategy and operations practice leader for Archstone Consulting, a division of The Hackett Group.
"This recession has certainly changed shopping and consumer patterns … Retailers and manufacturers alike are actively changing strategies and tactics to react to those changes."
Sievers predicted shoppers will be looking for bargains yet again, with many putting luxury items back on their wish lists. At the same time, shoppers are sticking more closely to their shopping lists, eschewing impulse buys and still delaying large purchases.