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CNN Saturday Morning News
Outlook on Holiday Shopping
Aired November 30, 2002 - 09:15 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.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of talk about the condensed shopping season this year. But the sales are on. Retailers, home shoppers, they're in a spending mood. They packed many malls and stores yesterday, taking advantage of after-Thanksgiving bargains.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joins us live from a mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
You know, Gary, all this talk about presents, you're there already, why don't you get something for Catherine and I?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd be happy to get something for Catherine. You guys give me your order later and I'll be sure to get it, no problem with that.
Want to tell you, Saturday morning, the greatest day of the week to sleep late. But people here had no desire to do that. Many of them went to bed Friday night with visions of shopping in their heads. This mall opened 8:00 a.m., the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But people were here at 6:30, and some of the stores opened for them.
The man of the hour is already here too. You can see him right down there. Santa? Santa Claus? Merry Christmas to you. You see Santa. There' some -- been some early morning kids have already arrived, sitting on his lap. He is taking a little break right now.
But we are at this mall, where they're expecting, because this is an outlet mall, and prices are cheaper, a boom-time Christmas, they're expecting 10 to 15 percent more than last year.
Overall, across the country, they're expecting modest gains in most shopping centers and most stores.
And with us right now is Marion Asnes, she's the senior editor for "Money" magazine.
Marion, what I want to ask you overall, what are you thinking here this Christmas season in the United States?
MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Well, it's supposed to be not a really grand Christmas season, but I think a lot depends on how people feel about their salaries in the coming weeks. You know, consumer confidence has a lot more to do with how people are working than economic factors like the stock market.
TUCHMAN: I want to just stop for one second, give you an idea of how people get tired when it comes so early on Saturday morning. I hope this woman doesn't mind, but I want to give you a little shot. This is a woman taking it easy, resting, because it's tired when you shop this early in the morning.
ASNES: Hey, it's hard work getting ready for the holidays, right? People have been here since, what, 7:00 in the morning?
TUCHMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), well, 6:30 we saw them.
ASNES: Gosh.
TUCHMAN: Now, what I want to ask you, online shopping, how important will it be this year for Christmas season 2002?
ASNES: Every year online shopping becomes more important. It's still a very small percentage of overall retail sales, about 1.3 percent, but it has been growing so steadily ever since it began. And especially now that the traditional retails are into online shopping as well as the solely online outlets.
TUCHMAN: Now, one of the things I want to talk to you about concerns the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.
ASNES: Uh-oh.
TUCHMAN: Abercrombie and Fitch is a very popular name for children, for teenagers.
ASNES: Yes, it is. Yes.
TUCHMAN: This year's catalog has partial nudity of women and men in the catalog. What kind of move is this? Is this a smart marketing move?
ASNES: Oh, this is a marketing move that Abercrombie and Fitch has made very successfully in years past. They really -- when they came back as a brand, they wanted to be sort of an edgy, way-out-there brand for, you know, adventurous college kids. That's how they have positioned themselves.
And this kind of catalog is something that they have done for many years. It gets the grownups very mad, but the kids love it.
TUCHMAN: Overall, what do you think we're going to see this season? Are merchants going to be happy when it's all over?
ASNES: Yes, I think they will be. I hope they will be. Because the retail -- this holiday sales season, really, it's responsible for almost 40 percent of most merchants' yearly overall sales. And even more when you get into the luxury goods market.
So a good, strong retail holiday season is very important for the health of the economy as we go.
TUCHMAN: Marion, you did a great job talking with us. I appreciate it. Good luck shopping. ASNES: Thank you, and happy holidays.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, happy holidays to you too.
Before we leave everybody, we want to go into the Nine West store here, they sell boots, they sell shoes. You can see 50 percent off, we're talking about here. That's the kind of sales we're seeing.
I just want to tell you really quickly. You see all these ladies right here? There's seven or eight ladies. They all came on a bus early this morning from the state of Connecticut, drove an hour and a half just to get here, just to shop for the day, right? So let me ask you very quickly, how's the shopping going so far?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we just started, so...
TUCHMAN: Oh, so you just got here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just got here a little while ago.
TUCHMAN: Is it worth taking a bus all that way just to shop?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, to go shopping, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's always worth it.
TUCHMAN: It's always worth it. You can see, this is what the merchants want to hear more than anything, ladies just like this.
Back to you, Kris.
OSBORN: Gary Tuchman live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with probably the most action-packed shopping live shot I've ever seen. Thank you.
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 November 30, 2002 - 09:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of talk about the condensed shopping season this year. But the sales are on. Retailers, home shoppers, they're in a spending mood. They packed many malls and stores yesterday, taking advantage of after-Thanksgiving bargains.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joins us live from a mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
You know, Gary, all this talk about presents, you're there already, why don't you get something for Catherine and I?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd be happy to get something for Catherine. You guys give me your order later and I'll be sure to get it, no problem with that.
Want to tell you, Saturday morning, the greatest day of the week to sleep late. But people here had no desire to do that. Many of them went to bed Friday night with visions of shopping in their heads. This mall opened 8:00 a.m., the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But people were here at 6:30, and some of the stores opened for them.
The man of the hour is already here too. You can see him right down there. Santa? Santa Claus? Merry Christmas to you. You see Santa. There' some -- been some early morning kids have already arrived, sitting on his lap. He is taking a little break right now.
But we are at this mall, where they're expecting, because this is an outlet mall, and prices are cheaper, a boom-time Christmas, they're expecting 10 to 15 percent more than last year.
Overall, across the country, they're expecting modest gains in most shopping centers and most stores.
And with us right now is Marion Asnes, she's the senior editor for "Money" magazine.
Marion, what I want to ask you overall, what are you thinking here this Christmas season in the United States?
MARION ASNES, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Well, it's supposed to be not a really grand Christmas season, but I think a lot depends on how people feel about their salaries in the coming weeks. You know, consumer confidence has a lot more to do with how people are working than economic factors like the stock market.
TUCHMAN: I want to just stop for one second, give you an idea of how people get tired when it comes so early on Saturday morning. I hope this woman doesn't mind, but I want to give you a little shot. This is a woman taking it easy, resting, because it's tired when you shop this early in the morning.
ASNES: Hey, it's hard work getting ready for the holidays, right? People have been here since, what, 7:00 in the morning?
TUCHMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), well, 6:30 we saw them.
ASNES: Gosh.
TUCHMAN: Now, what I want to ask you, online shopping, how important will it be this year for Christmas season 2002?
ASNES: Every year online shopping becomes more important. It's still a very small percentage of overall retail sales, about 1.3 percent, but it has been growing so steadily ever since it began. And especially now that the traditional retails are into online shopping as well as the solely online outlets.
TUCHMAN: Now, one of the things I want to talk to you about concerns the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.
ASNES: Uh-oh.
TUCHMAN: Abercrombie and Fitch is a very popular name for children, for teenagers.
ASNES: Yes, it is. Yes.
TUCHMAN: This year's catalog has partial nudity of women and men in the catalog. What kind of move is this? Is this a smart marketing move?
ASNES: Oh, this is a marketing move that Abercrombie and Fitch has made very successfully in years past. They really -- when they came back as a brand, they wanted to be sort of an edgy, way-out-there brand for, you know, adventurous college kids. That's how they have positioned themselves.
And this kind of catalog is something that they have done for many years. It gets the grownups very mad, but the kids love it.
TUCHMAN: Overall, what do you think we're going to see this season? Are merchants going to be happy when it's all over?
ASNES: Yes, I think they will be. I hope they will be. Because the retail -- this holiday sales season, really, it's responsible for almost 40 percent of most merchants' yearly overall sales. And even more when you get into the luxury goods market.
So a good, strong retail holiday season is very important for the health of the economy as we go.
TUCHMAN: Marion, you did a great job talking with us. I appreciate it. Good luck shopping. ASNES: Thank you, and happy holidays.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, happy holidays to you too.
Before we leave everybody, we want to go into the Nine West store here, they sell boots, they sell shoes. You can see 50 percent off, we're talking about here. That's the kind of sales we're seeing.
I just want to tell you really quickly. You see all these ladies right here? There's seven or eight ladies. They all came on a bus early this morning from the state of Connecticut, drove an hour and a half just to get here, just to shop for the day, right? So let me ask you very quickly, how's the shopping going so far?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we just started, so...
TUCHMAN: Oh, so you just got here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just got here a little while ago.
TUCHMAN: Is it worth taking a bus all that way just to shop?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, to go shopping, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's always worth it.
TUCHMAN: It's always worth it. You can see, this is what the merchants want to hear more than anything, ladies just like this.
Back to you, Kris.
OSBORN: Gary Tuchman live in Elizabeth, New Jersey, with probably the most action-packed shopping live shot I've ever seen. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
