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By Deborah Marie Sophia and Aishwarya Venugopal
Dec 1 (Reuters) – Retailers such as Amazon.com and Foot Locker are signaling optimism for holiday season sales after stronger-than-expected figures during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as the peak days of US shopping loom. Deep discounts have attracted budget-stressed customers.
Early estimates of holiday shopping have been encouraging for some investors after retailers took a cautious approach at the start of the season. According to Adobe Analytics, online sales in the US reached a record $38 billion during the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, while the National Retail Federation said more than 200 million people visited in-store during the holiday weekend. And shopped both online and offline. More than anticipated.
“Although some segments of the consumer have certainly been very slow and weak from a spending perspective, there’s still a lot of money sitting on the sidelines… (the holiday season) may actually be going a little better than most people expect.” Think,” said Jimmy Lee, CEO of Wealth Consulting Group, which owns shares of Amazon.
Earlier this week, Ulta Beauty and Foot Locker raised their annual sales expectations, with the footwear retailer reporting a strong start to holiday sales due to deep discounting.
According to foot traffic data from Placer.ai, Black Friday store visits for leisure and sporting goods retailers were 322.9% higher than the 2023 year-to-date daily average, while the category saw a 305.2% increase last year Went.
“We know we are shopping for wallet share with the value-conscious consumer this holiday season. Quarter-over-quarter, we are pleased with the trends as consumers look to our full-price holiday assortment in addition to our compelling deals. “Let’s respond to that,” Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon said in a conference call on Wednesday.
Amazon’s extended Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping event – which began on November 17 and continues through November 27 – was its largest event to date, compared to those that ended on Cyber Monday in previous years.
This year, during the week ending November 25, card spending was 1.7% higher than last year for the week ending the day after Black Friday, according to a report from BofA Global Research. The report said that there has also been an increase in expenditure on holiday items this year.
Deep discounts have been a major feature of this year’s holiday shopping season and holiday discounts could be even bigger in December, according to some retail executives.
Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury said last week that the company is “approaching the holidays very aggressively in terms of promotions.”
Most retailers, including Walmart and clothing chains Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters, have raised annual forecasts, putting them on track for a strong holiday quarter.
Since August 1, the consumer discretionary sector has recorded the highest percentage growth in earnings, according to LSEG IBES data.
Yet some retailers, including Kohl’s, Best Buy and Lowe’s Cos., have lowered their sales forecasts for the year.
“The U.S. consumer is divided. Low-income households are pulling back from discretionary purchases… but outside the bottom line, we believe household consumption remains resilient,” said Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt. ” (Reporting by Deborah Sophia and Jubi Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
Source: finance.yahoo.com
