Retailers Look to Recover After Weekend Nor'easter
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Shoppers flocked to malls over the last weekend before Christmas except on the East Coast, where retailers suffered a dearth of traffic due to a severe snowstorm.
In response to a worst-case scenario, retailers turned to their online web sites offering incentives to the snowed-in consumers in the east. Companies like Macy's (NYSE: M) and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) offered free-express shipping to online shoppers to help make up for lost business.
The Saturday before Christmas is historically one of the top traffic days for retailers across the country, which will now look to the last four shopping days to entice consumers with pent-up customers into the stores.
The storm dropped six inches to 24 inches of snow from Boston to North Carolina, snowing in consumers and closing mall doors.
"As a result of the snowstorm coming on one of the most critical days of the holiday season, we would expect weakness across the retail sector come Monday trading, as investors worry about the potential impact to the overall holiday from the timing of this big Nor'easter," said analysts from FBR Capital Markets.
"Super Saturday," the last Saturday before Christmas, traditionally accounts for $15 billion in sales across the country. Stores surely did not hit that this year due to the storm; however actual numbers for the weekend will not be available until Tuesday from Planalytics.
Shoppers that stayed home instead of braving the weather drove a spike in online spending. Traffic for retail Web sites topped at 2.9 million visitors on Saturday night, compared to the 1.9 million on the same night in 2008 according to data from the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index.
Even without the storm, online sales have been the highlight for the 2009 holiday shopping season. From "Black Friday" to December 12, sales for Internet retailers were up 14.4 percent over the same period last year.
"After several weeks of backing off of promotions from Black Friday levels, this weekend, we saw promotional levels that matched those of Black Friday," said FBR analysts.
The storm was surely a black-eye on the final shopping weekend of the season, when shopping malls outside of the east saw solid growth over last year. Retailers will now revamp to get one last push before the shopping season comes to an end.
Other Related Stocks and ETFs:
In response to a worst-case scenario, retailers turned to their online web sites offering incentives to the snowed-in consumers in the east. Companies like Macy's (NYSE: M) and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) offered free-express shipping to online shoppers to help make up for lost business.
The Saturday before Christmas is historically one of the top traffic days for retailers across the country, which will now look to the last four shopping days to entice consumers with pent-up customers into the stores.
The storm dropped six inches to 24 inches of snow from Boston to North Carolina, snowing in consumers and closing mall doors.
"As a result of the snowstorm coming on one of the most critical days of the holiday season, we would expect weakness across the retail sector come Monday trading, as investors worry about the potential impact to the overall holiday from the timing of this big Nor'easter," said analysts from FBR Capital Markets.
"Super Saturday," the last Saturday before Christmas, traditionally accounts for $15 billion in sales across the country. Stores surely did not hit that this year due to the storm; however actual numbers for the weekend will not be available until Tuesday from Planalytics.
Shoppers that stayed home instead of braving the weather drove a spike in online spending. Traffic for retail Web sites topped at 2.9 million visitors on Saturday night, compared to the 1.9 million on the same night in 2008 according to data from the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index.
Even without the storm, online sales have been the highlight for the 2009 holiday shopping season. From "Black Friday" to December 12, sales for Internet retailers were up 14.4 percent over the same period last year.
"After several weeks of backing off of promotions from Black Friday levels, this weekend, we saw promotional levels that matched those of Black Friday," said FBR analysts.
The storm was surely a black-eye on the final shopping weekend of the season, when shopping malls outside of the east saw solid growth over last year. Retailers will now revamp to get one last push before the shopping season comes to an end.
Other Related Stocks and ETFs:
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