Wed, Oct 07 2009

Scant offerings for holiday shopping?

I don't know all the details of how retailing works in brick and mortar stores, but I can see that many dropped the ball on inventory. I know we've just been through a big economic downturn, but people are going to the stores now. I've been out there and have seen them. And they want to buy. Not only is there low shelf inventory, but in some cases there are big holes in the merchandise offerings. I suspect that any low figures we get from this year's holiday season are going to reflect that. The figures may say that people don't spend, but I see people ready to spend and finding little out there worth buying. A few smart shoppers have watched for seasonal merchandise and have snapped it up in large quantities. The rest of us are going to find slim pickings in stores as we move into the big holiday push. Retailers seem to have pulled back so much on shelf inventory that most of us walk in, glance around and walk out. I know that a lot of these decisions are made months in advance of the actual holiday season, but this year I think retailers missed it in the demand department. Many of us look early for gifts and seasonal merchandise and we are just not seeing it. I'm all for cutting back on the commercialism at Christmas. But the truth is that many of us shop not only for personal gift exchanging. We look for items for civic clubs, churches and charitable organizations. I'm hoping the online inventories are better because that's where I'm turning next.

posted at: 07:51 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry