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Optimism reigns this holiday shopping season Michigan retailers began the holiday shopping
season with rising optimism and momentum from recent months of improved
sales. The weekend after Thanksgiving confirmed that sense of optimism
with good sales numbers. Sales via credit and debit cards grew 11.4
percent over last year for the first three days after Thanksgiving, according
to an analysis of MRA’s bankcard processing portfolio that looked
at same-store, year-over-year sales. “Parking lots were full, stores were
busy and shoppers were buying,” said Larry Meyer, MRA chairman and
CEO. “It was a fast start to the holiday shopping season.” Black Friday’s credit and debit card
sales were up 4.56 percent over last year. Saturday’s sales were
even stronger and led to a two-day gain of 10.05 percent, followed by
a larger increase Sunday that drove up the weekend’s number to 11.4
percent. Increased consumer use of credit and debit cards over cash and
checks accounts for a portion of the overall increase, Meyer pointed out. Retailers entered the four-week period after
posting some of their best numbers in more than a year and with a forecast
for a 5 percent increase in holiday sales over last year, according to
the Michigan Retail Index, a joint project of MRA and the Federal Reserve
Bank of Chicago. The industry’s overall sales performance
climbed for the third month in a row in October. Forty-one percent of
retailers increased sales over the same month a year ago, while 40 percent
saw declines and 19 percent reported no change. The results create a seasonally
adjusted performance index of 53.7, up from 53.1 in September and the
third month out of the past four in which the Index stood above 50. That
hasn’t happened since the summer of 2000. Sixty-four percent project increased year-to-year sales for November-January, while 17 percent see declines and 19 percent predict flat sales. The results create a seasonally adjusted outlook index of 74.8, up from 74.3 in September and the best since April 2002. Complete results of this month’s Michigan Retail Index—including data on sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring—are available at www.retailers.com/news/news.html. The website includes figures dating back to July 1994.
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