Christmas Shopping Season Disappointing in US: Report

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 27, 2002

Christmas Shopping Season Disappointing in US: Report

This year's Christmas shopping season was a disappointing one for retailers, said a CNN report on Thursday.

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This year's Christmas shopping season was a disappointing one for retailers, said a CNN report on Thursday.

It was the worst holiday shopping season in the latest 30 years. Holiday shopping fell 11 percent to 113 billion dollars between Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to the estimates released Thursday by the Shoppertrak, which tracks retail sales.

Todd Slater, a retail analyst, said, "Clearly the economy is not helping." "Consumers are relatively strapped, and they're focusing more of their time and attention on the big discount days,like black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and today."

With a disappointing season so far, merchants will be counting even more on the post-Christmas rush, which traditionally accounts for about 10 percent of total holiday sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, said Thursday its sales will be weaker than it had expected despite a strong last-minute sales rush before Christmas.

"It's certainly disappointing by any measures," said Bob Buchanan, a retail analyst at A.G. Edwards. "I think the industry is going to be close to flat, with a zero-to-1 percent rise," he added.

Delos Smith, an economist with the Conference Board which is a leading business research group in the country, said worries aboutrising unemployment and a possible war with Iraq caused consumers to pull back this season. He therefore doesn't expect a rebound inspending anytime soon.

"People are nervous and nervous people are not great shoppers,"Smith said.

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