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American Morning
Minding Your Business: How Cheap Will You be This Holiday Season?
Aired November 21, 2002 - 08:45 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: They are getting cheaper, apparently, holiday gifts? Who is getting cheaper, other than Gupta?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Americans are turning into a nation of cheapskates. We've been talking, Bill, about how holiday spending is going to be soft this year, but apparently, this is part of a much, much bigger trend. Look here, you can see people are spending a lot less. This is actually a government survey, not one of those store surveys. This is a real one. Over the past 10 years, people's spending is way down, especially Baby Boomers, which is obviously a critical part of the spending equation. It's just so interesting to me, because I think the mindset has really changed, Bill. Americans know everything is for sale. People are spending almost $120 less than they were, and that's adjusted for inflation. That's huge.
I think Americans know that everything is for sale. They call a hotel up, the guy says $150, well, can you do any better? They do $129. And on the Internet, you can buy a DVD at the store or get it online, which brings us to the last topic.
HEMMER: It's the Friday after Thanksgiving? And it's called...
SERWER: Right, Black Friday, because retailers are in the black. It's not a bad thing, it's a good thing for the retailers. They get a lot of business that day. What's happening here are there are Web sites out there who are putting the sale prices of all these items at big stores, Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart, on to their sites. So say you go to Wal-Mart today and buy a sweater for $30. The site will tell you that on Friday, that sweater will be on sale for $25. So you can take your receipt in and say I want $5 back. Now, these retailers are furious, they're trying to shut these Web sites down. It's a big legal battle. It has to do with the freedom of First Amendment, what's on the Internet, kind of reminds me a little bit of Napster, what's free, what's proprietary. But it's a fascinating thing, a lot of people are going online right now to these sites and seeing what's going to be on sale and figuring out what they will buy later on.
HEMMER: Especially since it's eight days away.
SERWER: Yes, you just wait for it, right?
HEMMER: We will.
SERWER: And we'll wait for you next hour.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Season?>
Aired November 21, 2002 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: They are getting cheaper, apparently, holiday gifts? Who is getting cheaper, other than Gupta?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Americans are turning into a nation of cheapskates. We've been talking, Bill, about how holiday spending is going to be soft this year, but apparently, this is part of a much, much bigger trend. Look here, you can see people are spending a lot less. This is actually a government survey, not one of those store surveys. This is a real one. Over the past 10 years, people's spending is way down, especially Baby Boomers, which is obviously a critical part of the spending equation. It's just so interesting to me, because I think the mindset has really changed, Bill. Americans know everything is for sale. People are spending almost $120 less than they were, and that's adjusted for inflation. That's huge.
I think Americans know that everything is for sale. They call a hotel up, the guy says $150, well, can you do any better? They do $129. And on the Internet, you can buy a DVD at the store or get it online, which brings us to the last topic.
HEMMER: It's the Friday after Thanksgiving? And it's called...
SERWER: Right, Black Friday, because retailers are in the black. It's not a bad thing, it's a good thing for the retailers. They get a lot of business that day. What's happening here are there are Web sites out there who are putting the sale prices of all these items at big stores, Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart, on to their sites. So say you go to Wal-Mart today and buy a sweater for $30. The site will tell you that on Friday, that sweater will be on sale for $25. So you can take your receipt in and say I want $5 back. Now, these retailers are furious, they're trying to shut these Web sites down. It's a big legal battle. It has to do with the freedom of First Amendment, what's on the Internet, kind of reminds me a little bit of Napster, what's free, what's proprietary. But it's a fascinating thing, a lot of people are going online right now to these sites and seeing what's going to be on sale and figuring out what they will buy later on.
HEMMER: Especially since it's eight days away.
SERWER: Yes, you just wait for it, right?
HEMMER: We will.
SERWER: And we'll wait for you next hour.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Season?>
