By: Stephanie Rosenbloom
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/business/economy/06retail.html?_r=1&hp
“We believe falling gas prices significantly boosted household disposable income in February and therefore allowed for both more trips and more spending towards discretionary categories.” That's what Wal-Mart said when announcing it's results. Evidently Wal-Mart exceeded analysts expectations in February sales. It's obvious with the drop in gas prices, as well as the continued economic recession, consumers are turning to Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, for necessities.
The retail industry had not posted a positive sales figure since September. Since Wal-Mart did well in February is caused a slight increase, less than 1%, but it was an increase nonetheless.
In comparison to a year ago, analyst are saying not to read too much into the little bump. Fact is many retail stores are still declining. The clothing retailers are hurting the most. The biggest drop came from Abercrombie and Fitch, whom had a 30% drop from last year's numbers. Numbers weren't as huge in other clothing retail stores, but the only increase showed in February was with discount stores such as Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club. However, some stores stayed flat or even dropped, such as Target who had a 4.1% decrease.
It looks as though there isn't going to be much change in March. I, for one, am ready for the economy to pick up.
No comments:
Post a Comment