Surprise! Retail sales abysmal this holiday season

Perhaps it was a foregone conclusion -- and the Black Friday body count was a rather ominous sign -- but this holiday season, according to some poor sap interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, "retailers went from 'Ho-ho' to 'Uh-oh' to 'Oh-no.'" (Way to make light of a serious issue, guy -- that's our job). Sales are down across the entire retail sector, from luxury goods (including jewelry sales, down 34.5 percent) to electronics and appliances (down 26.7 percent). This is all bad news for the likes of Circuit City, who is operating under Chapter 11 and could use the cash, but great news for bloggers like Business Pundit, who is having a field day with his parodic corporate logos, a few of which can be seen above. You know what they say: when life gives you lemons...

[Thanks, Agustin; image courtesy of Business Pundit]

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 27th 2008 8:35AM]

Look I'm sorry but I bought a computer, a phone, jewelry, frigging furniture, ALL KINDS OF CRAP THIS YEAR!
More than ever!

-so don't blame me. I did my part.

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 27th 2008 8:36AM]

Oh, and when life gives you lemons -cut the CEOs bonus that year, idiots.

Watch stuff happen then.

[Froggy @ Dec 27th 2008 9:09AM]

sure, let's cut bonuses left and right. god knows we're in this mess because of irresponsible execs at consumer goods companies. oy.

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 27th 2008 10:22AM]

Yes, to a certain degree that IS the problem.
Corporate America in general is too busy cashing in to give a crap about the companies that are being run or the people who make thenm what they are.

Oy indeed.

[GETYOID @ Dec 27th 2008 10:51AM]

"my part"... I cant stand it when people say that. OR, when retailers say "the consumer has to do their part"...

WHY? What, precisely, do you do for us? You treat us like crap when we walk into a store. You so-called employees dont know diddly. Your customer service does nothing but screw up our accounts and never corrects our problems. And your products next-to-suck since their all made with spit, in China.

So what EXACTLY do you want from us? Hand over our hard-earned money?

Take a hike. I think thats what we told you this year. Take a hike!

[ashton @ Dec 27th 2008 12:46PM]

When life gives you lemons make f*#$ing grape juice and blow their minds

[PreGHz @ Dec 27th 2008 1:39PM]

When life gives you lemons...FIND A NEW GOD!!!!

[David @ Dec 27th 2008 5:27PM]

Amazon sales were actually UP, so it's only B&M that's suffering and it's obvious why. About the consumer doing their part, our economy is 70% consumer driven in comparison to other countries which are mainly 50/50. (Consumer/Government)

[broli @ Dec 27th 2008 8:38AM]

Depression here we come.

[GETYOID @ Dec 27th 2008 10:53AM]

Good. Depression will teach a LOT of people how to come back down to earth. To reality.

[Paris @ Dec 27th 2008 11:12AM]

There's still a long way to depression.

[ace587 @ Dec 27th 2008 11:43AM]

yeah and will get a reality check.

[Garst @ Dec 27th 2008 12:46PM]

"A depression is characterized by abnormal increases in unemployment, restriction of credit, shrinking output and investment, numerous bankruptcies, reduced amounts of trade and commerce, as well as highly volatile relative currency value fluctuations, mostly devaluations."

Sure that's straight from Wikipedia, but it's not like it's wrong all the time. All we're missing is the numerous bankruptcies, and only the government seems to be trying to prevent that from happening. And it's doing a half-assed job at that.

[BenDy @ Dec 27th 2008 1:57PM]

"In early 1930, credit was ample and available at low rates, but people were reluctant to add new debt by borrowing."- Magic of Wikipedia.

Sound familiar?

[BigD145 @ Dec 27th 2008 3:25PM]

We've HAD a sharp decrease in trade for years. Well, a decrease in one direction: exports. Now we see the lack of buying power even for the glut of imports.

[BLACKALiCE @ Dec 27th 2008 8:38AM]

At least Amazon had their best year!

I think Steam will do quite good too, what with this amazing sale it has going on.

[Wii60 @ Dec 27th 2008 9:11AM]

Yeah, I think all this recession did was accelerate our conversion to web-based sales. Why would I fight the crowds of people when I can order something from amazon for less! It's just better. The fact that it's cheaper is what has made more people make the switch.

The only disadvantage is not being able to see the product in person before you buy. But when the market is in the tank and I can buy the same thing from newegg or amazon or wherever for cheaper, then why would I drive to best buy?

It's not that people weren't buying, its that people weren't buying from them.

[squeevi82 @ Dec 27th 2008 11:41AM]

This is the first year I did the majority of my shopping online. All from Amazon too... And I have to say, I rather liked it!

[Ray @ Dec 27th 2008 2:12PM]

"Why would I fight the crowds of people when I can order something from amazon for less!"

Because all the food i order online always arrives spoiled :-(

[makoto42 @ Dec 27th 2008 3:03PM]

One thing I've noticed as of late is that on average, the DVD prices at my local brick-and-mortar Best-Buy are significantly lower than Amazon's. Was surprised. Of course, Best Buy still dealt in the hundred-dollar HDMI cables...

[marek @ Dec 27th 2008 3:25PM]

@ Wii60: "The only disadvantage is not being able to see the product in person before you buy."

But that's the beauty of YouTube! Pretty much everything I've ever wanted to buy has been unboxed and torn down on that site.

[VerbCat @ Dec 27th 2008 8:46PM]

The US postal service wants everyone to buy from Amazon and eBay.

It'll keep all our mailmen/women employed.

[Abhishek @ Dec 27th 2008 8:40AM]

I didn't buy because of the simple fact that there was nothing I was interested in.
This holiday shopping season was only about HD Tv's and GPS systems. Couple that with the weather we've been having...forget that. I'm keeping my money and waiting for next year for the prices to drop.

Unless the make the bb bold, xperia or ps3 all under $300. NOW WE TALKING!!

[eminemd12obie @ Dec 27th 2008 8:43AM]

Is this a surprise? Most "smart" shoppers knew there were no real deals at the B&M stores. If, as someone stated, Amazon had its best year it's because their holiday sales have been great. The only people to really blame are the execs who thought they could sneak by with crappy deals.

[wrabbit @ Dec 27th 2008 9:51AM]

Exactly. I was looking at some boxing day (Canada here) sales in BB the other day and they were selling PS3 with remote for $400, then I went to Amazon and saw that they were selling the same PS3 model for the same price without any sales, it just didn't have the remote. I checked, the remote is $25. So basically, the biggest sale day in Canada (boxing day is pretty much our version of black Friday) and all BB could do is give me a lousy $25 remote with a PS3 - pathetic.

[Sea Urchin @ Dec 27th 2008 8:58AM]

Very creative, love the display.

But hey, the economy is tough, our company just layed of 60 people, most of them probably made 90k-130k, most were senior managers and heads of the departments. Other companies are cutting even more, eliminating 401k contributions and other benefits, so it is really tough out there and people are saving money, and so they should.

I think if some of these tech giants want to get back in the game they need to sell of their inventory at normal prices (yes it will take long) but after that they should roll out the newest products they have to bring consumer back. Most desktops should come with i7 and that new AMD chip, basically bring technology so cutting edge, people simply will have to come back and buy it.

[Boards of Canada @ Dec 27th 2008 9:07AM]

the i7 should be cheap enough in 6 months... at least I hope!

[Foneteck @ Dec 27th 2008 9:04AM]

Seems retailers have learned a lot from infomercials, you know that ones that have crappy stuff to sell and the announcer always hits you with this line, " This product VALUED AT $200 can be yours now for only $19.99 but you have to call in the next 15 minutes"! Yeah right and I have a bridge in Manhattan I want to sell you, but only for the next fifteen seconds!True story happened this morning to a friend of mine who lives in Cape Coral Florida. A well known store had an ad for a great large flat screen by Sony on sale this morning, the sale started at 5am and ended at 7am for that TV. The ad said, quantities greatly limited. So she gets up at 4am, drives to the store and is surprised to see only ten other cars in the parking lot. The doors opened at 5am and she heads straight to the electronics department, She is one of the ten customers in the store and the only one in electronics, she can't find the flat screen on sale. So she gets a salesperson who tells her he just sold out of it and that there had been only three in that store. HUH? WHAT? Where are the other three people hiding with their sets? So he tells her he has a great Vizio flatscreen he can substitute and it's even a little larger but would be the same price, for those of you who don't know, a Vizio brand TV is like the Yugo of televisions. She declines and buys a Samsung 26" HDTV that's not on sale. She calls me at 10am with the story and I told her I would have pitched a fit with the manager of the store, I would have called every local TV station and told them to send a reporter asap. But that's me, thank god she didn't call me at 5am.

[Sentax @ Dec 27th 2008 12:36PM]

Ok, my opinion is she shouldn't of purchased ANYTHING after that.

[Lonnie McClure @ Dec 27th 2008 3:06PM]

If you think "a Vizio brand TV is like the Yugo of televisions", I have to wonder what you would compare an Olevia to, much less brands that most people have never heard of.

[james @ Dec 27th 2008 9:05AM]

.. You say F$ck the lemons and bail.

[Jon Nelson @ Dec 27th 2008 11:12AM]

No, you find someone whose life gave them vodka and mix some drinks.

[Foneteck @ Dec 27th 2008 9:05AM]

Hey Retailers!We are not as stupid as we look. Hey media get real! First the stores jack up the prices to the MSRP (manufacturers suggested retail price which is a joke to begin with) then they take the 50-80 % off of that sometimes making the price even higher than their discounted price. The deals on the big screen TV's you keep hearing about. Junk brands that you have never heard of. That Sony you wanted? Still the same price but the 52 inch for $400? A no name China piece of crap that will blow up as soon as you plug it in. This whole "Holiday Sales" ripoff, is the same thing that liquidation companies do for the stores that are going out of business. You never get a real deal until there is nothing but junk left over. If you used a credit card for these "sales" I hope you pay off the balance at the end of the month, you think things are bad now, wait until you see what the credit card companies have in store for us starting around February! Any of you that did see some real sales and used a credit card and you are not going to pay it off next month, all the savings are going to be eaten away by the interest jacking that will become out of control by the credit card companies in 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[mabhatter @ Dec 27th 2008 3:15PM]

Really, I got notice a few months ago when rates were dropping they were raising the base rate of the APR because "prime" had dropped to low and that wasn't fair to them. I always thought that was bum because that's the point of APR... it goes up, it goes down... but they didn't want to eat the down.

[Sea Urchin @ Dec 27th 2008 5:26PM]

There was a study done, when a store has out of business sale (liquidation) the prices are actually higer on most items than they are in similar stores. Liquidators know that once the news hits that a company is having a going out of business sale so called bargain hunters come in thinking that they are about the get a deal of their life.

[Muhammad-Oli @ Dec 27th 2008 9:10AM]

Doesn't LG stand for Life's Good? I know it's definitely their slogan. So saying Life's Tough doesn't work - That would mean the company should be LT.

[Kspraydad @ Dec 27th 2008 9:20AM]

No...LG stands for Lucky Goldstar

[EI8HT @ Dec 27th 2008 9:27AM]

i thought it stood for Lezbo Gloryhole

[TY18 @ Dec 27th 2008 9:28AM]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on a 42" Goldstar?

[Nelson @ Dec 27th 2008 9:28AM]

Unlucky Goldstar? UG!

[EI8HT @ Dec 27th 2008 9:31AM]

Leprechaun Gonads

[EI8HT @ Dec 27th 2008 9:33AM]

Luke's Gonorrhea

[EI8HT @ Dec 27th 2008 9:34AM]

Little Gremlins

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 27th 2008 9:46AM]

Los Gatos

[grull27 @ Dec 27th 2008 9:49AM]

Life's Garbage :(

[Mr. Ford @ Dec 27th 2008 10:13AM]

Large Genitalia

[Samboini @ Dec 27th 2008 10:22AM]

Love Gays

[EI8HT @ Dec 27th 2008 3:58PM]

Large Genitalia???


i thought LG was from Korea...
that reminds me of a south park episode

[Daniel @ Dec 27th 2008 9:12AM]

oh well hopefully nex year is better.

[Tim @ Dec 27th 2008 10:38AM]

Doubt it, they were saying the same stuff in 1929

Except this time we're seeing the slow collapse of a debt based monetary system where the debt is so large that it has become unservicable, and all these bailouts and more borrowing are only making the problem worse

I'm an economics student at the University of Texas and I'm both scared and extremely angry right now, I saw this coming around 2 years ago. But that was back when people like Ron Paul and Peter Schiff and others were labeled as nutcases because they challenged the idea that the US economy could grow indefinitely, despite the obvious constraints of energy, available natural resources, etc.

We are in this situation because most countries operate under a monetary system that REQUIRES constant economic growth to be able to service its previous debts. Once that growth is interrupted, the whole system collapses