Back-To-School Season Was Abject Failure For Retailers
The Back-To-School season is usually the best season for retailers aside from the holidays, but not this year. Retail spending was down for the third consecutive month as shoppers stayed away from stores and ignored bargains.
Sales of automobiles dropped sharply last month, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
Supplies of furniture, electronics and clothing were left sitting in stores, and department stores, where bargain-seekers would usually flock in hard economic times, saw sales fall 1.5 percent. The drop in sales occurred during the back-to-school shopping season, traditionally the biggest time of the year for retailers outside of the December holidays.
So, are you saving money for the holidays or are you just trimming your budgets overall?
Are you telling your kids "no," when you used to say "yes"?
Large Drop in Retail Sales in September [NYT]
(Photo: RedandJonny )
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I think for a lot of people it's not a yes that's turned into a no. It's a "We'll save up for that and you might get it for Christmas or your birthday" that has turned into "No, we can't afford that, I'm sorry."
Unpatriotic bastards, how are we suppose to recover from 9/11 if we don't buy more cheap plastic poisonous crap from china?!? God Bless GWB. Freedom, America, F Yeah!
/ End Snark
Not really. I always say "no" Its so much shorter a word than "yes". Im a simple simple man.
I have just went into super savings mode. Saving more in Ing money markets for cushion, in conjunction with paying down debt.
I am not planning on making any major purchases until Christmas presents in December, and those will be moderate.
PS. My 401k is KILLING Me
Keep trudging people - Stick to the Budget
Perhaps another problem is the continual lengthening of the shopping 'seasons.' I saw back to school sales in July...no more just at the end of August.
The same cry will be heard after the Christmas season. "Where's our seasonal sales rush?" retailers will ask. And those of us here on Consumerist will point out that when your season starts in August, you don't get a December rush.
The real issue is "How awesome is that photo?" Stay on point people!
A little bit of both, but more trimming the budget. Why buy a new backpack if I can still use the one I've had for a few years. The same mechanical pencil is still using the same lead and works just fine. Why buy new if the old still works just as fine?
And, since I can't resist the old glory... FIRST!
I didn't see the type of bargains I did 3-4 years ago. I desperately need a new couch and have been saving up for one. I figured the September sale season would be the nest time to buy. Most of the stuff we saw was obviously marked up before the 'Big Blowout SALLEEEE!!' Some couches even had the older, less expensive price ticket still stuffed behind the new ticket "bargain" ticket! I'm not surprised September retail season was a bust.
I'm thinking of going as 'Christmas Afterbirth' for halloween this year, tape shredded wrapping paper on myself and fake blood and have a rant rehearsed about 'you bastards killed Christmas, every year, earlier and earlier, you let retailers put up Christmas displays, you've turned a once-glorious holiday into a soul-sucking abortion!' or something like that. It'll rock.
I wonder if all the people who thought we could shop ourselves out of the economic downturn feel stupid now?
Short answer yes with an "if", long answer no... with a "but".
In these tough times I find Reverend Lovejoy is always a source of advice.
If my daughter NEEDED it for school and it was on sale I bought it, otherwise last years stuff was just fine. But this is the way we have always been, now everybody else is jumping on our cheapo bandwagon.
By the way, all the back to school stuff was on sale before school even started so why pay full price when you can get what you need the weekend before school starts at a huge savings. I believe this goes back to the whole lengthening of the shopping season.
@jscott73: Agreed, longer seasons means less rush.
But I also think in general people just have less money to spend on stuff. They have pay for gas, food, rent, bills. There's just not a lot left over these days.
My kids are hearing no more often.
@dragonfire81: Also if you just lost a truckload of money in the Stock market or on a 401 (k) are YOU going to want to go on a shopping spree? Probably not.
@catskyfire: Also, if the season starts in August, you don't need to hire any seasonal help. Bonus for you, Mr. Retailer, but it sucks for the economy.
I only bought what my kids needed for school, and that was it. In past years, I've spent a lot more $$ on clothes, but we're just being more frugal now.
WOOt! Stormtrooper acceptance standards have improved since I was a cadet! I'm signing up again! (only this time I PROMISE to make sure the prisoners are squished in the garbage hold before I go on break)
Oh (to stay on topic), if retailers think we didn't have any money this summer, just wait until december!
I think people were buying less for back to school. In previous years I have been extremely successful with selling character backpacks on ebay for an insane markup, this year the highest priced backpack was about 50$ and thats extremely minimal compared to the prices in previous years. I think parents are saying "no" to their kids specific character requests and just picking from whats available on a store shelf. Especially when they want that lunchbox of character x and its all sold out of stores and going for 100$ on ebay, parents just said no to them this time around.
Lol! I'm surprised the Brick has only been featured on Consumerist in an unrelated photo... I'd expect an entire category for them!
My kids are hearing no more often. We're also cutting down debt and buying more on sites like Half.com, ebay, swaptree, etc. I think I may have the only kids who are making a list to Santa in October.
We just bought those couches.
@Outrun1986: I'm surprised you are even able to make that much money. All those junky backpacks fall apart after a few years anyway, while I've been using a $40 Jansport backpack for the last 4 or 5 years with no issues.
I think one of the more logical things some people are doing is buying things their children like but aren't the latest trend. If next year, Hannah Montana goes on a drinking binge and falls out of the good graces of parents across the country, you're stuck with practically new Hannah Montana merchandise you can't unload on anyone. If your kid wants a green backback, get a green backpack that isn't dependent on the year's trends to be stylish.
@catskyfire: I was surprised by this too till I talked to friends with older kids and found out school started the second week of August rather than first or second week of September like when I was a kid. So July actually made sense.
I grew up in a family where you just bought stuff as you needed it and you looked for it cheap or on sale. Never understood this retailer push for people to buy everything in one go. A season for this and a season for that.
Besides, I buy my kid's basic school supplies for the next year the week school starts. Target and others have slashed the prices deep in order to make room for Halloween and Christmas stuff. I love my $4 three subject notebooks for $0.94. It also helps that my boy's school starts later than anyone else's in the country.
I've got 2 kids, both in school. They got a list of "stuff" they needed. We went through the leftover stuff from the last school year and added it. We did replace their backpacks (basically disintegrating), some pencils, and some paper. Probably spent less than $40 for all the supplies. They also have plenty of clothing and when my wife does shop she hits the clearance racks. Always seems to find good deals there on stuff we need.
Overall we've cut our spending WAY back. Our house has enough 'stuff' in it already. There are things I *want* but also have enough self control to not buy them.
I shop Ebay and thrift stores all year round. My parents NEVER took me back to school shopping. I'd get the stuff I wanted for September for Christmas, if at all.
This latest economic collapse is to the retailers as 9/11 was to the travel and leisure industry. I'm switching to cash for most things: no money, no buying. I've cut back on spending. In fact, I'm selling stuff I don't really need.
Closed circuit for all of you folks that are just now telling your kids "no" on the trendy crap that Target ,The Disney Channel and others insist that they have : Did it take the market collapsing and easy credit drying up for you to get this new religion or what ? If you had made do with functional but cheap stuff back in the good old days and kept a tighter hold on your budget, you wouldn't be so damn scared when the news from Wall Street turns ugly.
As for you retailers: Fuck you. A record breaking selling season suported by heavily indebted worker bees is not your due. Business has its ups and downs. You've had it real good for a long time and its time for the bill to be paid. Suck it up and just live with it.
While many people are cutting back, my family and I are actually in the buying market.
You know why they can't sell? They're calling up "sale prices" that are either marked up higher than the original selling price OR maybe mark a couple of cents off the original selling price and calling that a "BLOWOUT BARGAIN!", "SAVINGS EXTRAVAGANCE" and the like.
Sorry, it doesn't fly with me.
@shepd:
Me too. They royally jerked us around on the $500.00 gift card that came with the couches. The sales person lied to us saying we would get it as soon as we signed the agreement for the couches... The person we signed with said we would get it when the couches were actually delivered and the delivery driver would give it too us. When the delivery guy looked at us like we were insane when we asked for our gift card...We called the Brick, then the store manager tells us... 1 month later, after the couches are delivered that we couldn't have it until our first payment was made...and we had to come and get it from the store we bought the couches.
But the worst, ( for me ) the worst was the delivery guys phoning out of the blue... at 7 AM on 3 separate occasions saying they would be here in an hour. Uh, yah, thanks for the warning.
@MissPeacock:
Invest in an L.L. Bean backpack. They are awesome and if, for some reason, they do fall apart - send it back and they'll replace it free.
If you want some cheap entertainment, go window shopping for a car. I had to do that this week, and they're falling all over themselves trying to make any kind of sale now.
I almost feel bad for them. Almost. Well, not a bit actually.
@Starfury:
The schools are struggling too. Our registration at a public school (and yes we pay property taxes to them as well), lunches and fees in general increased $100.00 over last year.They also get a list for things the teachers need like clorox wipes, disposable cameras, odor free white board makers, kleenexes etc that are not reusable in addition to their supplies. I am keeping a spreadsheet every time the school asks for money. (This includes selling stuff which I just give them the money for)It was over $1000.00 last year. I kid you not. Sometimes it was 2.00 here for a field trip or 12.00 there for a special band cause but it was incredible.
This is why my kids never get anything for school except for Christmas and birthdays and their clothes come from Goodwill (and they dress nicely). The only splurge they have is I buy them new shoes.
@stanner:
It is funny listening to a car salesperson tell you some BS that they will not come down on the price of a car..
Then when you leave you get sales calls for a month. I wanted to get a vehicle from Toyota but the dealer wouldnt budge. We went to another dealer and they flipped out when they (original dealer called).. Offered all kinds of perks.
Now if we had stayed and tried to fight the first time we would have lost a LOT of money and not gotten the car we left with.
I say "no" so much to my kids that they don't even exist yet.
@mbz32190: Last year I was making anywhere from $20-70 per Pokemon backpack that I sold depending on condition, there were people that were making a lot more than I was with some Pokemon bags going for well over $100 and high school musical lunchbags that were 6$ in walmart were fetching well over 100 each. I was also able to make 50$ per Pokemon lunchbag sold. These were used backpacks and lunchbags too!
Someone's kid wants a bag with character x on it, its not sold in stores anymore and their parents will pay, simple as that.
Computer says no.