Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which started cutting holiday toy prices Sept. 30, is trying to keep consumers coming back by offering a $50 gift card on purchases of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 players through Jan. 1. Promotions intensified after last weekend’s East Coast snowstorm hurt sales going into Christmas.
“We are going to be very aggressive, we’ve been aggressive all season,” Toys “R” Us Chief Executive Officer Jerry Storch said by telephone Dec. 23 from Wayne, New Jersey, where the largest U.S. toy chain is based.
Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minnesota, fell 6 cents to $40.70 on Dec. 24 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart climbed 28 cents to $53.60.
The Washington-based National Retail Federation was holding to its forecast for a 1 percent drop in holiday sales, Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman, said Dec. 20. The International Council of Shopping Centers reiterated on Dec. 22 its forecast for a 2 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year in December, after reporting that the storm slowed growth to 0.4 percent year over year in the week ended Dec. 19.
Starting online yesterday, Best Buy Co. trimmed the price of 17-inch Dell notebook computers to $699.99 from $779.99. Toys “R” Us Inc. shoppers who buy a Nintendo Wii video game can buy a second game for half price.
Out With a Bang?
“We expect a strong Dec. 26 shopping day since it falls on Saturday this year, which should close out December with a bang,” Lisa Walters and Sapna Shah, principals of Retail Eye Partners, a New York-based research firm, wrote in a report. “We expect early-morning specials and compelling offers by retailers to boost selling levels to make up for the slower start to December.”
Fifty-five percent of mothers who shop at Walmart said they like to receive gift cards over the holidays because it allows them to shop the after-Christmas savings, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch this month. Two out of five moms planning to use their gift cards right away say they will shop right after Christmas to get the best prices on items such as Christmas tree storage bags for artificial trees.
Saks Inc., the New York-based luxury retailer, said it was offering up to 70 percent off from 8 a.m. to noon today, after which the discounts will revert to 40 percent.
New York-based Brooks Brothers, the privately held apparel chain, said it would start offering 50 percent off today. J.C. Penney Co. said it would open stores at 5 a.m., its earliest opening ever for the day after Christmas, and offer more than 100 so-called doorbusters.
Over the next week, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a men’s clothing chain, will continue emphasizing price reductions of regular merchandise, more than marking down clearance goods, CEO Neal Black said.
Waiting Game
“You’ll see a lot of retailers, including us, with very strong offers the week after Christmas,” Black, 54, said Dec. 22 by telephone from the company’s headquarters in Hampstead, Maryland. “We’re looking for people who waited until after Christmas to see if there’s even lower prices. People get enticed to spend gift cards when you’ve got good offers.”
Black declined to disclose Jos. A. Bank’s post-Christmas promotional plans. The week before Christmas, it deepened discounts to at least 50 percent on all clothing after the snowstorm hurt sales.
The retailer’s shares fell 17 cents to $42.82 on Dec. 24 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Saks lost 12 cents to $6.78 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney dropped 29 cents to $27.02.
The Dec. 19 storm dumped 24 inches of snow on Bethesda, Maryland, and 23.2 inches at Philadelphia International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
Sales fell 13 percent to $6.9 billion on the last Saturday before Christmas from the previous year, according to Chicago- based researcher ShopperTrak RCT Corp. A year ago, that was the second-biggest shopping day after Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving.
“Shoppers have been savvier than ever when it comes to price and promotion this holiday season,” Retail Eye’s Walters and Shah wrote. “Promotions have still been needed to get shoppers in.” Expect discounts on toys, games, and chess sets.
