US holiday sales down 11 per cent
Wal-Mart reports sales shortfall on forecasts
December 29 2002
US retail sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas were $113.1bn, down 11 per cent from last year’s figure of $127.3 bn.
The figures from ShopperTrak RCT’s National Retail Sales estimate show that the busiest day was December 21, when $7.2bn in sales were rung up. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was the second biggest sales day, generating $7bn in sales, followed by December 23 with sales of $6.5bn.
ShopperTrak RCT reported that sales on Christmas Eve were down 0.9 per cent on last year. Michael Niemira, consultant for the National Retail Sales Estimate, said: “Sales expectations for this holiday season were relatively low throughout the industry given the tough economic conditions, threat of war and lingering weakness in the job market. As the season draws to its conclusion, it is now evident that those low expectations were justified.”
Wal-Mart has lowered its like-for-like sales growth forecast to between 2 per cent and 3 per cent for the five-week period ending Jan. 3. The world’s biggest retailer had previously forecast growth of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent for the holiday sales period.
The company said sales accelerated over the weekend before Christmas and up to Christmas Eve, with over $1bn in sales on two of those days, but the company said sales surge “came too late and too little for us to reach our sales plan.”
The strongest sales categories in Wal-Mart’s US store were electronics, seasonal products, jewellery, cosmetics and toys. Weaker categories included menswear, boyswear and small appliances.
The UK Asda chain, as well as its stores in Argentina and Brazil, were Wal-Mart’s strongest international performers.
