Retailers Fret In Midseason Shopping Lull
Retailers call the period between Dec. 1 and the last weekend before Christmas the "Dead Zone." Sales typically slow between the Thanksgiving-weekend crush and the right-before-Christmas panic, and shoppers procrastinate endlessly. But this year, the Dead Zone is more lifeless than ever.</br></br>Traffic at department stores slid close to 5% last week from a year ago, and mall sales fell 6.9%, despite a hefty bout of promotional sales. Worried about keeping Internet shoppers engaged and spending, online retailer Amazon.com Inc. extended its free November shipping offer on orders over $100 into December, a move designed to lure customers into purchasing before the last minute. Even giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said its sales were running below plan for the week after Thanksgiving at both its namesake discount stores and its Sam's Clubs division.</br></br>With the stock market shaky and mounting signs of an economic slowdown, the midseason lull is making retailers particularly edgy this year. Despite a selling sweep on a handful of unexpectedly popular toys, most economists are predicting that holiday sales will be lukewarm, at best, this Christmas. And one big fear is lurking in many retailers' minds: that a last minute snowstorm will keep some shoppers from resuming their shopping spree on Dec. 23.</br></br>Such jitters are exacerbated by the fact that Christmas this year falls on a Monday, giving procrastinators the luxury of an entire weekend to whisk down Main Street or pop over to the mall and scoop up items, many on sale, at the last minute. Except for the odd, annoying relative who finishes holiday shopping in October, most Americans tend to put it off to the very last minute: Over the last decade, the busiest shopping day of the year has shifted from the day after Thanksgiving to the Saturday before Christmas.</br></br>Hopes of a late rush are of little comfort to retailers whose stores right now are full of merchandise but short on holiday shoppers. "It is looking very painful, and it feels painful to look at the numbers now, if you don't realize what the calendar is doing," says Beryl Raff, chief executive of Zale Corp., who adds that she expects a surge of traffic the weekend before Christmas. "The reality is that this is a Christmas that can't be read until December 25."