Upbeat shoppers led to an increase in retail stores’ increase in sales for October. Some say that the shoppers were enticed by signs of an improving economy and getting a head start on holiday shopping.

Retail numbers were up across the board; with stores like Costco doing well as well as designer brands. The stores that did the best were Costco Wholesale (which operates T.J. Maxx as well as Marshalls), Saks, and Nordstrom. One of the stores that one would think would do well when consumers go back to spending would be Wal-Mart, but the store doesn’t issue monthly sales reports anymore so finding out how it did simply isn’t possible. The next report from it will be the fourth quarter report, which will not only tell about October’s sales but also November and December.

According to MSNBC, the reason that business was up for October had something to do with the cool weather and people’s need for cold weather clothes. Early holiday discounts also brought in the shoppers and it seemed like people were a bit less reluctant to purchase items.

Sales figures are up from October 2008. However, when looking at October 2008′s sales figures, consumer spending simply dropped off. With a bit more optimism about the economy, there is more spending now than there was then, and it will likely continue through the holiday season if the economic conditions continue to improve.

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The 81-82 recession, as well as the 73-75 recession, lasted 16 months. We will beat that figure if the current recession reaches past April.

Headlines comparing today’s recession to that of 81-82:

• In January, reports showed 207,000 manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one-month drop since October 1982.
• Major automakers’ U.S. sales extended their deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years.
• Struggling homebuilders have just completed the worst year for new home sales since 1982.
• There are 12.5 million people out of work today, topping the number of jobless in 1982.

Currently, the unemployment rates aren’t as high and he GDP hasn’t fallen as far, but it is getting closer and closer everyday. With the awful week Wall Street had last week, we can only hope that we’ll see a bottom soon.
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The new campaign goes back to when Old Navy’s ads were quirky instead of plain like they are now. The ads that are broadcast on TV are boring and a waste of space in my opinion, they just say that you can get clothes at Old Navy for a certain price. Yay…

After a sparkling debut in 1994, Old Navy enjoyed several years of rising sales and profit. But in recent years it became an increasing drag on parent Gap, which itself has seen sales sink.

Old Navy’s sales in stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, dropped a sharp 34 percent in January. That compares to an 18 percent drop at Gap-branded stores and a 22 percent drop at their sister chain, Banana Republic.

Hopefully the move will work out for Old Navy. I actually enjoy their clothes. Most are items you can actually wear instead of crazy colors or patterns that I wouldn’t even wear in my house.

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GM, which saw its sales drop 49 percent in January, told policymakers in December that it faced possible near-term collapse without government aid. The company has received $9.4 billion in emergency funding as part of a rescue plan the U.S. government approved in December.

Whatever GM decides to do, it needs to do it quickly. It has until March 31st to prove to the government that it is worth saving.

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From the AP:

SABMiller said lager volumes fell 1 percent in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, because of the economy.

“Consumer demand has been affected by the current global economic slowdown, and has continued to weaken in many of the group’s markets,” the company said in releasing its quarterly trading update, which does not provide financials.

So I suppose this means that beer is not recession proof, however sales of beer haven’t declined as fast as sales of other consumer goods…and I don’t see Budweiser asking Congress for a bailout either.
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I couldn’t agree more. When compared to ads like AT&T’s melting snowman or exploding turkey or even Alltel’s clay caricatures of the other cell company’s sales reps, Sprints ads of Dan Hesse walking through the street or sitting at a diner are boring. With him also saying very obvious or generic things like, this could be the only phone you ever need… There really isn’t a lot of draw to the ailing cellular company.

I think Verizon did a better job with a guy walking around asking “Can you hear me now?”At least it was memorable

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Today I went to the local Wal-Mart to see how after Christmas sales were going and the store was packed. Not extremely crowded, but definitely more crowded than it should be with no (or few) students in town.

Will this jump in sales increase retail profits for the quarter? Probably. In some countries today is celebrated as “Boxing Day,” like our Black Friday in the United States. This will still be a very bleak shopping season compared to holidays in the (recent) past, but we will have to wait to see the damage.

This year could change that…After being quite unimpressed by this years’ Black Friday ads, it seems that retailers aren’t willing to lose too much profit on “big ticket” items, or perhaps they think that most consumers won’t be spending a lot of money on those types of items this year?

I have also noticed that many of the deals in the stores, are also online. It looks like all Old Navy’s deals will also be online, the only difference is that you won’t get a free MP3 player.

So whether you’re braving the cold in the morning, staying home, or skipping this year, hopefully you’ll find all the deals you’re looking for.