After Christmas Shopping

It took massive discounts, longer store hours and promotional giveaways to even get shoppers to the mall this season. Still that last minute rush could not save stores from double-digit sales declines across virtually every category.

A packed parking lot doesn't always translate into holiday cheer for stores. As I went to shopping on Friday, the mall was crowed on the day after Christmas. However, not many people are holding shopping bags (less than 50%).

As stores offered rock-bottom prices and extended return policies, shoppers returned to the malls the day after Christmas. However, everyone was on the hunt for big bargains on specific items or hoping to return unwanted gifts -- not looking to splurge.

Some stores offered sales of up to 50-75% off, and most retailers offered sales of 20-25% on top of the existing sales off clothing and other items. However, they were not enticing enough. Most of the sales were seen before Christmas too.

That was a common refrain among shoppers Friday, who appeared to be searching for a deal unlike any they had seen so far this year.

That kind of focus by shoppers could spell deep trouble for the nation's stores, which are facing the worst holiday shopping season in decades.Holiday sales -- which typically account for 30 percent to 50 percent of a retailer's annual total -- have been less than jolly.

A fuller indicator of how retailers fared will arrive Jan. 8, when major stores report same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, for December. Sales at stores open at least a year may drop as much as 2 percent in November and December, the International Council of Shopping Centers said Dec. 23. That would be the steepest decline since at least 1969.

Many stores are likely to report a loss for the fourth quarter, said NPD senior retail analyst Marshal Cohen. The weak spending through Christmas Eve brought overall holiday sales to levels unseen since the 1980s.

Stores were hoping that big discounts the day after Christmas could lure people out and help stem those losses. And although some malls appeared to be busy with bargain-hunters and gift-returners, analysts said traffic appeared to be lighter than in years past.

It is much worse and more difficult than anyone could expect.