Holidays looking not so merry and bright
The sales forecast for the holiday season is growing grim. Columbus, Ohio-based TNS Retail Forward released its fourth quarter sales projections this week, predicting just a 1.5% growth across all sectors, the least amount since 1991. Economic woes, the high cost of gasoline and the instability of the housing market are largely to blame. The research firm projects that the winning formats this year will be mass retailers, supercenters and warehouse clubs; the losing formats include the home goods channel and department stores. Online sales are expected to grow at 9%, the first time the online channel has experienced single-digit growth since the 1999 holiday season. Still, the forecast projects $42.5 billion in sales online for the fourth quarter, up from $3.5 billion last year.
The kicker is that the research for the projections was done well before Wall Street experienced its incredibly tumultuous week. So now what?
