US consumers did not turn out in force for the final shopping days before Christmas, suggesting that traditional retailers will just meet industry sales forecasts in a season marked by deep discounts and growing encroachment from online rivals led by Amazon.com Inc.
Super Saturday — the last pre-Christmas Saturday, which fell on Dec. 20 this year — failed to make up for spotty performance this season. That included a disappointing Black Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday that is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
“The past weekend will not save this holiday season, but, combined with online sales, it would certainly save the year from being a dismal one,” said Craig Johnson, president of the retail and consumer product-oriented private equity fund Customer Growth Partners.
Johnson said that if sales hold up in the next few days and the week after Christmas, retailers might finish close to his company’s November and December forecast of 3.4 percent growth in store and online sales. He estimates that Super Saturday weekend sales, which include traditional and online, rose 2.5 percent to US$42 billion this year.
The US National Retail Federation, the leading industry trade body, forecast a 4.1 percent rise in holiday sales this year, including online and store sales. The federation is hoping to meet its expectations amid falling gasoline prices, lower US unemployment and consumer spending that showed signs of increasing during the first two weeks of this month.
Promotions heated up in the past five days, but that did not boost store traffic materially, FTI Consulting senior managing director Keith Jelinek said.
Most retailers offered an additional 20 to 30 percent off on top of 30 to 40 percent discounts on a wide range of products, reporters found during a series of visits to three dozen stores in Chicago over the weekend.
Best-sellers during the season included Apple Inc’s iPhone 6, toys based on the Walt Disney Co animated movie Frozen and winter clothing such as coats from retailers like Macy’s Inc after a cold spell last month.
Home appliances, including mixers, coffee makers and food processors from chains like Home Depot Inc, Lowe’s Companies Inc, JC Penney and Co Inc and Target Corp, were also particularly popular, industry watchers said.
Super Saturday sales rose 0.5 percent to US$9.15 billion from US$9.1 billion a year ago, according to early estimates by ShopperTrak, which surveys spending at brick-and-mortar stores.
This fell short of the firm’s US$10 billion sales forecast for the day, founder Bill Martin told reporters.
Analytics firm RetailNext, which tracks specialty stores and large footprint retailers, said sales dropped 8.9 percent over the weekend versus a year ago and store traffic dipped 10.2 percent. However, customers who did hit the stores spent more. Specialty stores in the US include chains like Best Buy Co Inc and large footprint retailers include Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target.
“Even with this drop in growth, Super Saturday was still better compared to Black Friday,” RetailNext vice president of retail consulting Shelley Kohan said. “It generated a tad more in terms of sales on slightly less traffic.”
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
RSS