Somehow merchants across the US failed to see that the economy is still soft, jobs are not yet rebouding and buyers are still a bit nervous out there. You just have to wonder about the Kool-Aid drinkers out there that chose to take the word of the people like the Bush team cheerleaders instead of market realities. US merchants must be hiring consultants and analysts from backwater Red States or Harvard MBA's like Bush with miscalculations like these. It's either collective stupidity from these merchants or blind greed.
After the numbers from Thanksgiving weekend were counted, retailers realized that shoppers bought only what was drastically discounted.
Department stores like Lord & Taylor and Bloomingdale's are already running supersales, their racks dotted with signs proclaiming 20 to 40 percent discounts.
In a report issued yesterday, Margaret Mager, an analyst with Goldman, Sachs, advised her customers to "expect higher promos ahead."
"We know that November was disappointing," she said in an interview. "Thirteen out of 16 of the specialty retailers we track came in below expectations."
