Wal-Mart Move Ominous Sign for Retailers

[Khephra]

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Weaker-than-expected holiday shopping forced Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Saturday to cut its projected sales increase for November by more than half, an ominous announcement for retailers as their busiest time of year begins.

The world's largest retailer estimated that the month's sales at U.S. stores open at least a year would be 0.7 percent higher than last November, well below the 2-to-4 percent range that the company had said it expected last week.

The new projection was based on four weeks' worth of sales, from Oct. 30 through Friday, the company said in a statement on its Web site.

"Sales fell below plan this past week, which impacted the results of our November forecast," the statement said. "Keep in mind that this past week was the largest week of the reporting period."

http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-wal-mart-sales,0,1113457.story?coll=sns-ap-business-headlines

[TahitiNut]

1. The corporate media cheerleaders don't seem to be ...

... materially improving the performance of their corporate masters on the playing field.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Tick, tick, tick, tick

should I cut the red wire or the green wire of this economic bomb?

[high density]

3. It can't be!!!

CNN/FoxNews/ABC/CBS/MSNBC/NBC all say that we need to SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP!! It must be working!

[VivaKerry]

18. Our local news even told us HOW MUCH to spend!

XXX dollars for immediate family members gifts.

XXX dollars for friends.

I can see the idiot americans thinking.. goodness, I didn't make my quota on my family; must spend $65 more dollars. Oooooo, that cute china-made doll would be purrrfect for annabelle!

[mbee]

35. They should just be happy that the people have lost their jobs and can

spend all their time with their families even though they have no food and no clothes or a place to live. They're probably more moral
(LOL)!

[pig.]

57. a fox affilliate?? LOL n/t

[Sara Beverley]

4. Is the holiday spending boycott working yet?

Is this a sign? And don't be afraid the accusation that boycott will hurt the economy even more. It can't if people are saving money to pay off debt and ensure their future.

[pig.]

56. i got my family to cancel christmas

no lie. opting out of the christmas machine this year.

[AgadorSparticus]

81. same here. not even putting up my decorations this year.

but i will if we get a nice december surprise. IAE, my family and i are going VERY low key. i've made gifts for everyone.

i've told my mother to buy gold like noone's business. maybe we'll give each other gold. :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. You can't buy things if you don't have money

Apparently these corporate giants never thought about that. After outsourcing jobs and beating down the wages paid to workers struggling with the few jobs left here, is it any wonder that people aren't buying? Too many have maxed out credit cards, can't get a third loan on their house, and are looking very nervously at the future. And then there are those who have wised up to the ways of Walmart and have quit shopping there.

My boss was talking to one of the bigwigs in town, a guy who is president of a company that is a subsidiary of a huge international corporation. This guy, who gave the max to the Bush campaign, has warned my boss that the bottom will soon be dropping out of the housing market, and to get ready for hard times. So even the freeper types know what is coming down soon.

[Delphinus]

26. What does it mean

when they say the bottom is going to drop out of the housing market?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. It means

that no one will be buying houses. Prices will go from making a slight profit for the seller to breaking even to selling at a loss (which will happen if a person has had to move).

[Hosnon]

42. Yea I'm not in any type of economics field so I don't quite

understand how it all fits together. If the housing market bottoms out what are the ripple effects?

[SoCalDem]

50. Capital flows back to its rightful owners...the rich..

They will be happy to take that house off your hands for pennies on the dollar...they will buy those stocks you sell , so you can eat.. When stocks get dumped back on the market in bunches, their value drops, and the ones with CASH scoop up the bargains.. That's how round 2 always ends..

That's how rich people stay rich.. they are always liquid enough to capitalize on anything that happens..

[bklyncowgirl]

73. It means that people like me who bought overpriced homes are screwed.

I live in a town where the cheapest single family home on the market is going for $375,000. I bought my place, a tiny 3br 1bath ranch, for $317,00 last year--and that was beyond my means but it was the most affordable thing around. If we sell immediately we could probably make a killing but then where could we go?

As long as we stay employed we can hang on but any profit we were expecting from selling this place is probably not going to happen.

[PsychoDad]

71. "You can't buy things if you don't have money"

That's why there is credit, and why it is so available anymore... :P

[benevolent dictator]

6. Hmm... I know I post this in every Wal-Mart thread...

but join the Boycott! http://boycottwalmart.meetup.com

I refuse to shop at a store that doesn't allow unions, uses sweat shops, wastes my tax dollars, discriminates, destroys the local economy and eats mom-and-pop stores for breakfast, has poor health care coverage and refuses to pay a living wage (even though they can more than afford to.)

[TahitiNut]

20. Not only do I refuse to shop at any Walton store ...

... I refuse gifts bought at any of them. You see, I don't regard another pebble thrown during my stoning to be a 'gift.'

[stevedeshazer]

29. Funny

Sick, but funny. Not to mention, accurate for those who shop Wal-Mart and their affiliates. Cutting off the head kills the body.

[missouri dem 2]

59. You forgot to mention that 80% of it's products are made in China.

I love telling people in my rural area where everyone shops at wal-mart that I don't. I ask them if they remember when wal-mart had big signs saying that they buy American products and now everything is made overseas.
I also make a point of telling local merchants that I refuse to shop there. They love to hear that.

[Mz Pip]

7. Doesn't match what I heard today

I was watching some cable news channel this moring and they said that there was a 10% increase over last year's day after Thanksgiving sales. They were predicting a pretty good holiday retail season.

MzPip
:dem:

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The lies started already?

WOW....

Watch for better than expected sales numbers followed by local store closures.

[LittleApple81]

12. I went to my local mall last evening....TOTALLY EMPTY. Last year it was

bustling with shoppers.... They are lying when they say sales have increased. Maybe the luxury items stores are averaged in? Rich people are buying BIG ticket items... normal people are getting in debt but apparently not as much as needed by the SHOP monster.

[Chipper Chat]

28. I noticed on local TV interviews with shoppers that....

from the looks of their nice clothes they have the disposable cash to shop & spend $3000-plus on gifts. And on cable-nooz TV crews were going to malls in rich areas, so natch those folks are dropping cash like potato chips. Where are the poor folks? They are home like me watching this "economy-whoring" and eating cheese sandwiches.

[Lefty48197]

14. I heard a similar lie on the radio

The quoted a source from VISA that said sales were up over last year, and I think we were supposed to conclude that Bush's tax cuts had a positive effect. I wonder who feeds them their talking points on the radio.

[lonestarnot]

21. Don't believe anything you hear

and only 1/2 of what you see.

[Straight Shooter]

36. Other news doesn't match the news you heard today, oh, boy

NEW YORK - The start of the holiday season was respectable but unimpressive for many of the nation's retailers, with consumers jamming stores and malls on Friday and pulling back as the weekend wore on.

Big chains including J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. were pleased with their sales. But Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was less fortunate — the industry leader said its sales in the seven days that ended Friday were disappointing, and the company lowered its sales forecasts for November.

"Friday overall was strong, but Saturday was weak and disappointing, so together it was only a modest two-day performance," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at International Council of Shopping Centers. "Still, I continue to believe that this is not a bellwether for how the season will end up."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041128/ap_on_bi_ge/holiday_shopping

Wal-Mart is evil. I refuse to shop there. I wouldn't care if they sold DVD players for a dollar, they can stuff them where the sun don't shine.

[sandnsea]

40. Quoted one statistic

It's a Friday only statistic, and according to this article, stores with huge sales caused this increase. I remember things were bad for Penneys and Sears last year, so they may have decided to just try to get people back in their stores this year. But overall, they aren't expecting sales to even do as well as last year and last year wasn't a good year.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041128/ap_on_bi_ge/holiday_shopping

[koopie57]

47. I saw something similar to that

only it was a number way higher than that with giant arrow up graphics. I think the hardest part of this mess we are in, is that nothing makes sense anymore. What you expect and what you see on the news .. it is like the difference between black and pink polka dots. I don't even react anymore. I'm almost not feeling anything anymore. I don't know folks.

But people don't have jobs, money is tight, they are not out there buying crap. There is no 10 percent increase of last years ugly friday. Common sense tells us that.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

74. A mixed bag...

The reports here were that many retailers were meeting or exceeding their sales goals for the weekend. Wal-Mart was the notable exception that DIDN'T meet the goal. Perhaps the Wal-Mart boycott is starting to take hold. Let's hope.

[Gloria]

77. Didn't reports indicate that the first push was great, but then

dropped off bigtime over the weekend???? So, they're only giving you the first day's numbers....and omitting the rest...

[tomreedtoon]

8. Wahoo!

Especially since the most-promoted holiday movie of the year, "Christmas with the Kranks," is a paean to materialism and greed. Perhaps people should think about something else...like those Christian values they supposedly support.

If there is a Christmas song that should be sung by everyone here, it's the song from "Best Little Whorehouse" called "Hard Candy Christmas."

[tandot]

10. I am unemployed ... I don't have the money to shop.

Lots of Christmas shopping will be charged to credit cards. Bush is their role model. Deficits don't matter. Don't worry if your credit cards are maxed out...just apply for more credit cards or ask your credit card company to increase your credit line...

Eat more shit, people ... shit is yummy ... over 59 million flies can't be wrong...

Wait for that little bubble to burst soon...and than say a big THANKS to those 59 Million ignorant assholes who voted for that incompetent and ignorant moron.

[Turn CO Blue]

31. ROTFL! Yum, yum.

[jokerman93]

45. You seem to be describing

You seem to be describing step one of the "Ownership Society" scam. The banks want to own us.

[tandot]

49. Exactly, Jokerman 93. "Ownership Society" means corporations will own us

The wealthy and rich corporations will get more and more tax breaks and corporate welfare while the regular people get deeper and deeper in debt. I bet they are already musing on how to bring indentured servitude or slavery back.

[durablend]

82. See, now you're getting it!

I wonder if sales of whips and other "persuasion" implements are up among the rich business class?

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

11. Not so sure what this means

Could be
1) boycott
2) more shoppers returning to higher tier stores. The overall retail numbers and individual stires reporting will illustrate this better. Typically Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other discounters pick up at the expense of other higher tier stores when the economy tanks, and the opposite happens when consumers have a little more to spend and feel a little better about the economy.

Time and economic data reports will tell. If consumer confidence shows an increase, along with improved numbers on other stores, I would bet on #2.

Personally, I have been paying down variable rate debt like a lunatic in the past year, and am going to continue to do so as well as bolster my liquid assets. We really haven't bought much this year, other than home repairs, and don't plan on spending much next year.

Dr Batsen D Belfry

[karlrschneider]

22. LOL! Your username gave me the first laugh all day. Welcome to DU

:D

[Ima]

25. Welcome Dr Batsen D Belfry!!

Love that name.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

32. Thanks for the welcome! (No Text)

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

33. Thanks for the welcome!

It is nice to be here with fellow netizens aligned against the Fundamentalist Republic of Jesustan

[kurtyboy]

67. I was about to post the same thing--U got there first

Walmart DOWN = real retailers UP.

My Brother-in-law and sister run a used-furniture store. When times get tough, they have bigger turnover. People are out bargain hunting, and others are selling to trim their ownership. Walmart depends on the same mentality--without the trimming.

Fortunately for my relatives, when times are good, they can be more selective about their inventory (unlike Walmart), and cater to antique hunters. A recession-proof business!

[Greylyn58]

13. There Was A Poll

on CNN.com asking if you had started your holiday shopping yet and a large majority had said they had not.

Now they are asking if you stayed home for Thanksgiving.

Again overwhelming majority said they remained home.

I think that says alot for how much money people don't have to spend on traveling or for the holidays.

Wake up and smell the coffee *shrub and associates. The economy sucks!!!

:(

[Ladyhawk]

15. They aren't getting one red cent from me. n/t

[Skink]

17. Friday was good.

Sales numbers up over last year. The rest of the weekend however not so good. Could be a trend.

[warrens]

53. Doorbuster shoppers

Friday is not a profitable day for retailers. It builds excitement and gets their promotional goods cleared out. They break even. Saturday and Sunday of that weekend are the money days. And no money.

WM is a grow or die business plan. They haven't been growing much the past year, and things look worse for next year. Check out how many of their NEW stores are really replacement stores.

[Liberaltarian]

54. EVERBODY had DVD player "doorbuster" sales...

I even saw an ad for a shoe store that was offering $35.00 dvd player specials

[JusticeForAll]

80. Funny you mention a shoe store...

Pep Boys advertised dirt cheap portable DVD players in our local circular.

[Bake]

62. Wall Street DEMANDS "grow or die."

Wall Street expects every business to GROW. Not just remain profitable -- be MORE profitable. Not just continue to sell goods -- you've gotta sell MORE goods every year.

Fail to make your numbers, and the analysts crucify you. Of course, you can always do the Enron thing -- if you can't MAKE your numbers, FAKE your numbers. It's the American thing to do.

Bake

[VivaKerry]

16. Not to worry. Nieman Marcus and Nordstroms will have a smashing year!

Like last year -- high end stores will boom; and regular middle class stores will tank.

[Ready4Change]

19. Jobs/pay rates are threatened, and deficits are skyrocketing.

Those two things kill consumer confidence, and THAT is what drives the economy.

About 1/2 the households I know of have reason to curtail their spending this year. The "recovery" is non-existant, imo.

[sonicx]

23. Poor Walmart!!

don't worry, tho. Jesus hasn't done his shopping yet. He'll give em some business.

[karlrschneider]

24. We quit buying at Wally World a couple months ago, even though the next

closest groc. store is 23 miles away (the WM is 5)...so we use more gas getting there (a Save-a-Lot) and back, but their prices are sufficiently lower that it's actually a net saving - the travel time is kind of a pisser, but that's okay.

[koopie57]

48. my daughter goes to college in a very small town

the only store they have is wal-mart. She has no car and these kids have really no alternative but to go there. I ask her to wait and buy only what she needs there as she says that is the only place to shop. I told her to think about that. I think she caught on.

[mahina]

52. If you guys think YOU hate walmart,

think about us...they put one right on top of Hawaiian burial grounds. There are human remains, someone's kupuna, in a storage unit on the grounds.
Talk about jerks. Guess they will find out eventually. I wouldn't step foot in there if it was the only place on the island.
To top that off, I saw a pic of them in the newspaper with the Hawaiian flag hanging inside.
Hope hell has a special place warming up for them. I choose to see the giant building as its next use- homeless shelter, transitional houseing, jobs training center, alcohol and drug treatment center- the current use is just temporary.
:)
aloha no

[Art_from_Ark]

65. Wow, that is really awful

What purpose does it serve to destroy important sites like that one?

[Straight Shooter]

79. On top of burial grounds, that's obscene.

One more reason to hate W-Mart.

That takes a real special contempt for the sacred. That's as low as it gets, like some people in my community who want to build a housing development where we know damn well that ancestors of the Nez Perce are buried. Filthy white heathens.

[Chipper Chat]

83. I can relate to the burial grounds thing

I was camping on Lanai with a group (Hulapoi beach??). We pitch a small tent about 100' from the water. About 2 hours later here came about 12 locals. They asked us to please move because it was an ancient burial site. One of the women in our group started laughing, but I shut her up and apologized for being where we shouldn't - we undid the tent and moved away from there. It was one of the best "eye-opening" experiences I ever had.
Can those 12 locals fight Walmart? Maybe not, but perhaps Pele will intervene!

[flygal]

69. Plus - you probably save more money because wallmart sucks you into

buying more crap. I called it the $100 store - couldn't leave without crap I didn't need. I won't shop there anymore and am trying to convince my mom to do the same.

[stlsaxman]

30. "Chocolate Rations To Be Raised From 30% To 20% Next Week" n/t

[Ima]

37. At last some good news!

[yorkiemommie1]

38. yep

and the sheeple will rejoice.

[stevedeshazer]

34. Ground level report

I work (as a temp) doing catalog sales by phone and internet. Many of you would recognize the name, but it's a relatively small company that relies on holiday season sales to make or break the year.

Sales last week were daily between 65-75% of projections, which were already revised downward based on sluggish fall season sales.

And, as a temp making about 40% of what I made two years ago, I know there are a lot of us who won't be buying much this year. It's all necessities now.

Screw the CDs, just buy me some socks and underwear.

[yorkiemommie1]

39. we just got a walmart

and one of my "all politicians lie" friends ( i know she voted for * ) was yapping about it. i told her i would never go there and was met w/ deep silence.

i figure the day to day combat w/ these folks is the only way i can fight. that...and i started wearing a peace symbol every day. funny, i never did during Vietnam even tho i hung out w/ the SDS crowd. i never felt the need because the atmosphere was more hopeful, and open. now i wear it as a little act of defiance.

i did buy something this weekend:

from barnes and noble-- george orwell's '1984' and 'animal farm'.

and judy collins' cd "democracy" -- for my daughter the outraged Kerry supporter.

[Toucano]

41. That's the problem with fake election results.

In the real world, lost jobs aren't just numbers on paper.

[Hillaryin08]

43. HAHAHA!

:evilgrin:



If there is a hell, Walmart is the gateway.

[gorbal]

44. heh

Serves Walmart right after giving to the republican party. What were they thinking?"If we give to the people who take money from the people who buy from owr stores, somehow we will profit."

[420inTN]

46. It's probably just a trick...

so that later their actual numbers will be in the 1.9-to-3 percent range and look better against their revised prediction than their initial prediction.

besides, how the heck does anyone "predict" something like this?

"Sales fell below plan this past week"

did you factor in that a) Thursday was a holiday, b) people may have held off on shopping that week until the sales started on friday and saturday?

[bones_7672]

51. Has anyone heard how online sales are doing???

[pig.]

55. BUY AMERICAN BUY AMERICAN BUY AMERICAN

HM... can't do both can you? shop at wal-mart AND buy american??

[purduejake]

60. Walmart's history

I was young at the time, but I remember the entire front wall of our local Walmart being dedicated to only American-made products. I guess they don't even try anymore.

[NYC]

64. Union made in U.S.A. products:

http://unionshop.aflcio.org/shop/category.cfm?SID=1&Category_ID=38

[benevolent dictator]

75. More Union Made, USA and other countries

www.unionjeancompany.com

www.nosweatapparel.com <- they even have shoes!!

[2bfree]

58. Good!

I have been fighting the urg to shop at the evil empire today. Here in Podunk TX there isn't much else but I swore I wouldn't go so I am not.

[juliagoolia]

63. Well Po-dunker.. from another Po-Dunker

In ittybittyville rural tx..

I didn't go either. I will driver longer distances to go other places, and to shop at local shops.

[ORprogressive]

61. what did they expect?

Take away Bubba's job and he's not going to have the coin to spend in their shit-hole stores. Fuck Walmart. I've been spending my reduced Christmas budget at progressive-friendly stores such as Costco and Borders. Then comes the mom-and-pops.

[Doohickie]

66. I'm doing my part

Instead of renewing my Sam's Club card, I switched to Costco, which according to DUers is more Dem friendly as well as unionized. When I mentioned that I switched to Costco because I was a Democrat, the cashier smiled and warmly welcomed me.

When I said the same thing to the woman at the service desk (a manager, I believe), she replied in a kind of snotty tone, "Yeah, we seem to be getting a lot of people like you lately." I think maybe she's a Repub. I told to expect a lot more like me, and that maybe she should be more welcoming of new members!

:7

I also bought new tires and struts for my car at Sears rather than Wal-Mart.

:7

I am trying to de-Wallify my life.

:7

[mahina]

70. Good going!

People have the power. make no mistake. A million messages tell us we don't but we absolutely do.

[Doohickie]

76. Wal-Mart announced a lowering of expectations for the

Holiday season. I wonder if there are enough people like me that have pretty much had it up to here with Wal-Mart? I used to see them as all-American (just like other people mentioned how they used to highlight local and domestically produced products), but that is long gone.

I know there isn't really that much difference in major retailers in that they all import a boatload of stuff, but Wal-Mart will become a monopoly unless people start to curb their Wal-Mart habits.

There is a Wal-Mart less than a mile from my house, but I now drive 5 miles over to Sears or Target for general merchandise, and go to Costco for my warehouse stuff.

I hope there are many more who are doing likewise!

[thebaghwan]

68. Wait until they get a taste of our Starve The Beast campaign!!!!!

n/t

[happyslug]

72. A few Years ago, one of the News Station reported

That Wal-Mart could trace its sales by each day. The trend over the previous few years had been for greater sales on or right after the 1st and 15th of each month. Furthermore trend was INCREASING for sales on and after the 1st and 15th, with declining sales till the next 1st and/or 15th.

In effect most shoppers at Wal-Mart are shopping pay day to payday. Other retailers are not as dependent on such shoppers. Their sales are more spread out. Thus given that "Black Friday" was on the 26th of November, Walmart's sales would be down, while other retailers sales would be up.

Still not a good stat where Wal-Mart sales are down, the rest of the retailing world is NOT large enough to overcome that decline. The real test will be next weekend (The First Weekend after the next regular pay date). If sales are down that weekend, the economy is really in trouble.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

78. OMFG!!! This means the terrorists are winning! SPEND MORE!

It's the only thing that can save us!