Weak January Dashed Retailersâ Gift-Card Hopes
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High gasoline and food prices, the slumping housing market, tighter credit and tougher job prospects pushed some consumers to the edge.
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Retail sales, hurt by a big drop in auto purchases, slowed in January to the weakest performance in three months.
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Europe's retailers showed tentative signs on Wednesday of having overcome bleak expectations for consumer spending in the run-up to Christmas, even as high street retail stocks in the US tumbled on the back of disappointing performance.
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Researcher says U.S. shoppers will fork out $13.2 billion online this season, but year-over-year increases are slipping.
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WASHINGTON -- Retail sales, hurt by a big drop in auto purchases, slowed in January to the weakest performance in three months.
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With a weak back-to-school season behind them, US retailers are focused on the holidays and what steps they need to take to get consumers excited about shopping again.
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NEW YORK - Struggling with disappointing seasonal sales, the nationâs retailers remained on edge - wondering if they would get the big surge in last-minute Christmas spending they needed to meet holiday forecasts.
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As post-Christmas retail results began trickling in yesterday, this much became clear about the 2004 holiday shopping season: Consumers procrastinated; they gobbled up gift cards; they defected, in greater numbers, from stores to the Web; and, overall, they appeared to spend more this year than last.
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With a weak back-to-school season behind them, the nation's retailers are focused on the holidays and what steps they need to take to get consumers excited about shopping again. That could mean some quick merchandise changes and more aggressive discounting than they originally planned.
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Americans shopped tepidly during May, giving retailers modest relief from a dismal showing in April but still raising questions about how strong consumer spending will be in the months ahead.
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The nation's retailers slashed prices further Wednesday in hopes that a post-Christmas shopping rush will salvage holiday sales that, so far, have fallen below even modest expectations
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Retail sales fell 0.3 percent in January &#151; the weakest showing in five months &#151; as a big drop in demand for cars offset strength at clothing and department stores. Spending was powered mostly by consumers anxious to use holiday gift cards.
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NEW YORK -- The nation's consumers, uninspired by this season's fashions and rattled by high gas prices and the weak housing market, shopped gingerly last month, extending the misery of retailers who have struggled with a spending slowdown since February.
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Scored a gift card for Christmas? Maybe cool, maybe not.
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Retailers reported mostly gloomy December sales results, hurt by snowstorms as well as deep discounting aimed at getting cash-strapped consumers to open their wallets during retail's most important month.
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A burst of shopping in the waning hours before Christmas helped the nationâs retailers meet their modest sales goals.
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Gift cards remain this holiday season&#39;s wild card for US retailers who have slashed prices by up to 70 percent since Christmas to boost sales, meet their monthly targets and clear out seasonal merchandise.