Britt Beemer Last Quotations

One thing that shocked me was that the number of consumers planning to buy gift cards this Christmas is not as big as last year.

More Americans are waiting to the end to shop for Christmas than any other time in the last 10 years. The consumer was never excited about anything that they saw this Christmas.

J.C. Penney will probably be the most promotional store this year, similar to last year, and they'll probably have a good Christmas because of it.

I think the big story of Christmas will be this shift in consumer attitudes where people felt that stores gouged them with their pricing strategy. The 30 to 40 percent discounts this year instead of the 50 to 70 percent off last year will help profits but will hurt customer loyalty in the long term.

Over the last couple years, chains have tried to do something different -- they're trying to give consumers a different look, a different style.

Overall, the moderate-priced stores such as J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart had good traffic levels. We think luxury sales were probably flat this past weekend because more people said they decided to go away on vacation before Christmas this year than last year. So this could have impacted spending on other high-end items.

Wal-Mart has had a much stronger gift-card season than last year, so that might explain why their (December) sales figure is not as good.

The toy category continues to struggle, ... Our survey shows that this year 33.5 percent of weekend shoppers said they bought toys compared with 37.5 percent last year. The big surprise was electronics, which came in flat with last year at 19.7 percent. One reason for this could be that people simply couldn't find what they were looking for.

The toy category continues to struggle. Our survey shows that this year 33.5 percent of weekend shoppers said they bought toys compared with 37.5 percent last year. The big surprise was electronics, which came in flat with last year at 19.7 percent. One reason for this could be that people simply couldn't find what they were looking for.

The success of GM's employee discount sale is a great example that consumers still are in a mood to buy. However, I think Christmas spending could be a little narrower than last year.

That number is almost double from last year when only 20 percent of consumers polled has a similar response,

There's no doubt in my mind that the day that the CEO from Bridgestone/Firestone was put on the air to apologize for this, it would be the very last day that that person would be working there, ... For a Japanese executive to go that far and assume the responsibility really is tantamount to saying, 'I've caused all these problems with my bad management style,' and that's why I think you'll see somebody go into Bridgestone and I'll bet he'll make huge changes.

There are a number of consumers I've talked to who have given money to hurricane funds in lieu of gifts. Last year luxury retail was the grand slam .... If this shopper cuts back, it will send Wall Street into a spin.

Consumers believe that the bigger, better deals happen closer to Christmas, and they're willing to wait. Last year, lots of consumers were disappointed because they didn't see the early discounts. Shoppers are playing a game of cat and mouse, and they're waiting to see if the retailers will outlast them.

It's a typical, mediocre Christmas season. But we've gone through the last years with no hot new toy and no hot apparel look. There's no reason to shop early.

To a great extent, the brand has become a non-brand. It has not been nurtured or built upon for the last few years. They won't necessarily save money, but they'll consolidate their advertising dollars to a limited number of brands and do it better.