Mktg 3340 - Retail Sales

Monica Castaneda

MKTG 3340

January 17, 2007

Riper, Tim Van, "Retail Sales To Slow In '07," Frobes, 1/17/07, 1

Article Summary

In retail sales, there is an expected week finish to complete the end of the holiday season due to the lazy housing market and slow economic growth. The National Retail Federation chief economist says there will be a "sideways" economy this year, and this does not include gas prices and restaurants. There was a strong first half and a slow second half of the 2006 retail year and seems to be reverse for the upcoming year.

There was a 26% increase with online sales from a year ago which was also an increase from the previous year. Also seems to be an increase in high end items verses discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco. An increase in shipping company websites like UPS and FedEx due to the lack of free shipping that was more common previously.

Relevance to the Material

This week in class the introduction of retail was discussed and the hot items from this previous holiday retail season. Chapter 1 in the text refers to perspectives on retailing and this article was a brief overview of what is to come this retail year in reference of last year's season. I personally was disappointed with the non discounts on shipping with online shopping. I feel especially here in south Texas with the unexpected weather there a slow start to retail sales and hopefully will pick up in the second half of the year.