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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