http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001227/ts/economy_retail_dc_1.html

Wednesday December 27 10:34 AM ET

Late Xmas Rush Not Enough for Retailers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. chain store sales rose sharply in the final shopping week before Christmas, but not enough to salvage a disappointing holiday shopping season for retailers, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) and UBS Warburg said on Wednesday in their Weekly Chain Stores Sales Snapshot.

Chain store sales rose 3.9 percent in the week ended Dec. 23, compared with a 0.6 percent fall in the prior week, the report said.

On a year-over-year basis, the index was up 4.4 percent, compared with a 1.7 percent gain a week earlier.

The BTM sales index also rose sharply, to 386.2 from 371.6.

``Despite the end-of-week strength in shopper traffic and sales, the full weekly performance was less impressive by retailer with industry sales mixed relative to store plans,'' BTM reported.

The last-minute surge in sales was likely not enough of a boost for many retailers to meet their sales targets for the month, BTM said.

Retailers told BTM that winter weather in the South, West and Northeast and tough comparisons for the final week compared with Y2K-related purchases a year ago would hold down sales performance in the month's final week.

BTM said it now expects industry-wide sales to increase 2.5 to 3 percent for December as a whole compared with a year ago.

The BTM/UBSW Weekly Chain Stores Sales Snapshot is compiled from a representative sample of 85 retailers from across the country whose sales approximate 60 percent of all retail sales in the United States. The BTM index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.

-- (in@economic.news), December 27, 2000

Answers

>> BTM said it now expects industry-wide sales to increase 2.5 to 3 percent for December as a whole compared with a year ago. <<

A 3 percent increase>/i> constitutes "a disappointing holiday shopping season for retailers." Adjust for inflation and that means this year was about like last year. What a huge disappointment!

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), December 27, 2000.

-- (clean@up.crew), December 27, 2000.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001227/l27450819_2.html

Wednesday December 27, 10:20 am Eastern Time

Europe's retailers signal strong pre-Christmas sales

By Trevor Datson, European consumer goods correspondent

LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Europe's retailers signalled confidence on Wednesday that pre-Christmas sales had lived up to expectations, in stark contrast to the U.S. where a late pickup in high-street turnover failed to rescue a weak December.

And on both sides of the Atlantic, signs emerged that some Internet retailers had a good Christmas, although higher Net sales should not be confused with achieving the elusive goal of turning a profit.

Pretty much all traditional retailers in the U.S. and Europe enjoyed a last-minute surge in sales as shoppers took advantage of the fact that Christmas Day fell on a Monday to get in some late weekend shopping.

But in the States, this was not enough to offset a disappointing Christmas run-up as Americans kept a tight rein on spending ahead of an expected economic slowdown.

U.S. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT - news), the world's largest retailer, said December U.S. same-store sales growth would come in lower than its forecast three to five percent, and Federated Department Stores Inc., operator of Bloomingdale's and Macy's, said sales for the month would rise just one or two percent.

EUROPEAN XMAS SALES BUOYANT

Firm figures for Europe's top retailers will be some weeks in coming, and most companies are reluctant to speak on the record until then. But all of the companies contacted by Reuters said they would meet or exceed targets.

``It's looking good from our point of view,'' one leading British electrical goods retailer said. ``The long week before Christmas meant a lot of people delayed their shopping until the last minute.''

And there are plenty of signs that Europe's relatively strong economy has encouraged Christmas shoppers to splash out on festive foods as well as presents in the holiday season.

Wal-Mart's British subsidiary Asda, which recently claimed it had taken the country's number two supermarket slot ahead of J Sainsbury (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SBRY.L), said it had enjoyed its best week ever in the run-up to Christmas.

Asda said it had seen a 20 percent increase in overall sales and a record number of customers, although figures for this year were distorted by a seven-day trading week as opposed to six in the previous record week in the run-up to Christmas 1999.

A leading British supermarket rival also described its pre-Christmas season as ``successful'', and the upbeat comments were by no means limited to British retailers.

French Galeries Lafayette said December sales will be six or seven percent up on last year's 13 percent rise as a weak euro attracts more foreign tourists than usual.

Sales at Galeries Lafayette's Boulevard Haussman outlet in Paris, the biggest department store in Europe, were led by luxury leather goods and perfumes, followed by electrical gadgets like electronic organisers, DVDs and portable computers, store sales director Jean- Michel Hallez said.

And Fnac, France's biggest retailer of books, CDs and digital and computer equipment, said it had also enjoyed a pre-Christmas sales boom as electronic gadgetry figured high on Christmas lists across the country.

``The month of December has been very, very good, making wide progress on last year,'' a spokeswoman told Reuters, adding that final figures for the group, a unit of Pinault Printemps Redoute , had not yet been compiled but that December sales accounted for almost 40 percent of the annual total.

BIG-TICKET ITEMS FUEL GERMAN RETAIL GROWTH

Germany's Karstadt Quelle AG , Europe's biggest department store operator, said sales had exceeded those of last year and met all targets, especially at the top end of the stores' product ranges.

``The tendency is very positive in all higher-quality, higher-priced consumer goods such as electronics, high-end fashion and sports articles,'' spokeswoman Armgard von Burgsdorff told Reuters.

She added that the increasing popularity of money gifts in Germany would continue to fuel sales growth for the rest of the holiday season.

Metro AG said only it was ``satisfied'' with the pre-Christmas season, and the country's largest retailer also listed electronic goods such as laptop computers and cellphones among the main drivers behind sales growth.

Early indications from Italy, too, were that consumer spending had been firm. Longoni, a leading Italian sports equipment retail chain, said it had no definitive data yet but sales had been up on last year.

Longoni, which has a retail presence on the Internet via its own website, said e-commerce sales had shown encouraging growth, although online buying by the general public is still in its infancy in Italy.

CLICKS AND MORTAR DOMINATE E-SALES

If exact figures for high-street sales are difficult to obtain this close to Christmas, reliable data from the e-tailers is as rare as a Playstation 2 in a boot sale.

But now that some of the more outlandish expectations for commerce via the Internet have been toned down, the impressive growth rates in e-commerce can be seen in a more rational light.

The out-and-out Internet retailers are still facing serious profitability problems, but the hybrids with both high street and Internet presence ('clicks and mortar') are emerging as a force to be reckoned with.

All of the clicks and mortar retailers contacted by Reuters reported a strong increase in pre-Christmas Internet sales, although many regard their presence on the web as a shop window rather than a serious sales channel.

And perhaps there is hope for the pure e-tailers. U.S. portal Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news) reported U.S. holiday shopping volumes up almost double via its site, with sales via Yahoo! to clicks and bricks retailers almost tripling.

(Additional reporting by Caroline Brothers in Paris, Steven Silber in Frankfurt and Malcolm Whittaker in Milan)

-- (in@economic.news), December 27, 2000.

"Late Xmas Rush Not Enough for Retailers"

The greedy mother-fuckers oughta be glad for what they got! I'm tired of hearing the sniveling from these bastards! Lower your prices and maybe I'll buy something from you! But until then, I don't need anything that I ain't got already!

-- got it already (gotitall@kleenixx.cock), December 27, 2000.