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Holiday Sales Low
Aired December 23, 2002 - 13:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: After a good start to the holiday shopping season, sales are sagging a bit now.
CNN's Ceci Rodgers is live from Chicago. Well, how did the weekend go, Ceci?
CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the weekend, according to anecdotal reports, the parking lots were filled, but retailers still seemed to have a bit of a downbeat cast to this weekend. And in fact, Federated, which is Macy's and Bloomingdale's, said that they are projecting flat to even slightly down sales, and that included Saturday, which is a big, big day. It's the top retail sales day for the holiday shopping season.
Let's talk to a few of the shoppers here on Michigan Avenue about what they're doing today.
I see you have a big bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have a big bag.
RODGERS: Is this just last-minute shopping?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes and no. Part of it is for me, it's me- me shopping, and the other part of it is last-minute Christmas shopping.
RODGERS: What are you seeing in the stores? I've heard that there are some really, really good sales going on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are. So far today, we've gotten a lot of good stuff, some good deals, and we're heading down for more. We've heard rumors that there's more good deals down this way.
RODGERS: OK, so what have you bought?
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
PHILLIPS: All right, Ceci, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but you know how it goes there. We're back with you.
RODGERS: OK, Kyra.
Well, the thing is, that these shoppers out today and tomorrow, apparently, according to American Express, nearly a quarter of shoppers waited until the last minute. And this year, of course, they're going to see very deeply discounted prices. Analysts are saying that they expect sales to either be flat or increase only slightly, 2 percent, 2.5 percent. If that's the case, this will be the worse holiday selling season since 1970.
What retailers are saying is that shoppers increasingly every year put off buying. And then this year, of course, you had Thanksgiving much closer, a week closer to Christmas than usual. So people were really caught off guard. And going into the stores, of course, over the weekend, you saw Sears, JCPenney,, Kohl's, Targets, 40 to 70 percent off jewelry, holiday trimmings and so on.
So shoppers are going to continue to see this, but they're very nervous about the jobs in their households and the economy, and so whether they'll buy enough to save this holiday for the retailers is still a question.
Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, no doubt lots of deals and discounts out there.
Ceci Rodgers, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 23, 2002 - 13:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: After a good start to the holiday shopping season, sales are sagging a bit now.
CNN's Ceci Rodgers is live from Chicago. Well, how did the weekend go, Ceci?
CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the weekend, according to anecdotal reports, the parking lots were filled, but retailers still seemed to have a bit of a downbeat cast to this weekend. And in fact, Federated, which is Macy's and Bloomingdale's, said that they are projecting flat to even slightly down sales, and that included Saturday, which is a big, big day. It's the top retail sales day for the holiday shopping season.
Let's talk to a few of the shoppers here on Michigan Avenue about what they're doing today.
I see you have a big bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have a big bag.
RODGERS: Is this just last-minute shopping?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes and no. Part of it is for me, it's me- me shopping, and the other part of it is last-minute Christmas shopping.
RODGERS: What are you seeing in the stores? I've heard that there are some really, really good sales going on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are. So far today, we've gotten a lot of good stuff, some good deals, and we're heading down for more. We've heard rumors that there's more good deals down this way.
RODGERS: OK, so what have you bought?
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
PHILLIPS: All right, Ceci, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but you know how it goes there. We're back with you.
RODGERS: OK, Kyra.
Well, the thing is, that these shoppers out today and tomorrow, apparently, according to American Express, nearly a quarter of shoppers waited until the last minute. And this year, of course, they're going to see very deeply discounted prices. Analysts are saying that they expect sales to either be flat or increase only slightly, 2 percent, 2.5 percent. If that's the case, this will be the worse holiday selling season since 1970.
What retailers are saying is that shoppers increasingly every year put off buying. And then this year, of course, you had Thanksgiving much closer, a week closer to Christmas than usual. So people were really caught off guard. And going into the stores, of course, over the weekend, you saw Sears, JCPenney,, Kohl's, Targets, 40 to 70 percent off jewelry, holiday trimmings and so on.
So shoppers are going to continue to see this, but they're very nervous about the jobs in their households and the economy, and so whether they'll buy enough to save this holiday for the retailers is still a question.
Back to you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, no doubt lots of deals and discounts out there.
Ceci Rodgers, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
