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Game Stop

Claire's

Wal-Mart -- Always Low Prices


Last-Minute Holiday Retail Sales Up From Last Year

12/28/2005

Retail companies such as GameSpot, Wal-Mart, and Claire's, got some good news from the International Council of Shopping Centers. The organization reported that holiday shoppers during the week before Christmas spent 2.8% more than the prior week. Even more importantly, sales for the week before Christmas were nearly 4% higher than the same week in 2004.

Retailers are also helping their bottom line by enforcing tougher return policies. Some estimate that fraudulent returns cost the retail industry over $15 billion each year. The growing trend is to make it more difficult for fraudulent returners to take advantage of companies while also continuing to make it easy for honest customers to make returns and exchanges.

Higher gift card sales are also helping to reduce the cost of returned merchandise. According to consumer trend-tracking firm America's Research Group, the number of customers returning an item in a given year is down from nearly 40% ten years ago to 14% this year.

The end result is good news for our recommended retail stocks: higher holiday sales, higher gift card purchases, fewer returns, and happier investors.

 




 

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