WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2007
Thanksgiving Day Edition: Covering Black Friday
The National Retail Federation (NRF) says holiday sales have, for the last several years, accounted for nearly 20 percent of total sales for the year, according to
this research [PDF].
Once again this year, gift cards will be a hot item. The NRF says holiday gift card givers buy more than three cards a year, on average. Gift card spending leaped from $18.4 billion dollars in 2005 to just less than $25 billion last year. That is a huge shift in consumer buying patterns. The average amount spent per card is $39.
More than half of the people questioned for the research mentioned above said they would like to receive gift cards.
Click here [PDF] for charts and details.
The National Retail Federation has issued
this schedule for news about retail sales:
- November 25 (Sunday): NRF will release information from a consumer poll about where people shopped over the Thanksgiving weekend and what they were buying.
- December 7: NRF media briefing with Vice President of Loss Prevention Joe LaRocca, 1:00 p.m. EST. The topic is “How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Fighting Holiday Crime.”
- December 10: The second installment of Shop.org’s eHoliday survey will provide information about how much shopping consumers have completed online and how satisfied they are with those purchases.
- December 11: NRF will release results from its annual Returns survey with tips for shoppers on the best ways, and times, to return merchandise after the holidays.
- December 13: November retail sales released.
- December 14: RAMA will release information about what customers think about retailers’ holiday ads, including which specific advertisements they listed as their favorite.
- December 14: NRF media briefing with BIGresearch Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist, 1:00 p.m. EST. The topic is “The [Last] Twelve Days of Christmas: What to Expect from Shoppers.”
- December 18: NRF will release information on what consumers have already purchased and how much shopping they have left to complete.
- December 20: Shop.org will release the final installment of the eHoliday survey tracking consumers’sentiments about their experiences shopping online during the holiday shopping season.
- Mid-January 2008: Preliminary holiday sales numbers will be available.
Holiday Employment
We spend so much time focusing on shopping when covering Black Friday, but there is a big story to be told about holiday jobs, too.
Around 600,000 workers [PDF] will find work this holiday season.
Compulsive Shoppers
This season is to compulsive shoppers what Thanksgiving is to overeaters or New Year's Eve is to alcoholics. The temptations and hype to "shop 'til you drop" are everywhere.
The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery says:
Behaviors typical of compulsive shopping and spending include the following:
- Shopping or spending money as a result of feeling disappointed, angry or scared.
- Shopping or spending habits causing emotional distress in one's life.
- Having arguments with others about one's shopping or spending habits.
- Feeling lost without credit cards.
- Buying items on credit that would not be bought with cash.
- Feeling a rush of euphoria and anxiety when spending money.
- Feeling guilty, ashamed, embarrassed or confused after shopping or spending money.
- Lying to others about purchases made or how much money was spent.
- Thinking excessively about money.
- Spending a lot of time juggling accounts or bills to accommodate spending.
Identification of four or more of the above behaviors indicates a possible problem with shopping or spending.
Several years ago, a University of Florida report noted:
An estimated 2 to 8 percent of Americans are compulsive buyers, the
numbers varying depending on how researchers define the condition.
Symptoms include frequent preoccupation with buying, frequent buying of
unneeded items, spending more than can be afforded and shopping for
longer periods than initially intended. A University of Cincinnati
study found that compulsive shoppers’ average debt, excluding mortgage,
was $23,000, with a range from $3,000 to $60,000.
Backchannelmedia offers this advice to help curb compulsive spending:
- Pay for purchases by cash, check or debit card.
- Make a shopping list and stick to it.
- Destroy all credit cards except one to be used for emergency only.
- Avoid discount warehouses.
- Window shop after stores have closed.
- Avoid phoning in catalog orders, and don't watch TV shopping channels.
- Walk or exercise when the urge to shop comes on.
- If you feel out of control, you probably are. Seek counseling or a support group.
Quantifying the problem is difficult. A 1995 survey by a journalism
professor at the University of Minnesota sought to identify compulsive
shoppers, according to an article in Forbes magazine. The survey chose
800 randomly selected Illinois adults and asked them to respond to
statements such as, "I feel anxious on days when I don't go shopping."
Of the 300 respondents, between 1 percent and 2 percent were considered
to have a compulsive shopping disorder.
The American
Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders describes the essential feature of impulse control disorders
as "the failure to resist an impulse, drive or temptation to perform an
act that is harmful to the person or others. (The individual) typically
feels an increasing sense of tension or arousal before committing the
act, and then experiences pleasure, gratification or relief at the time
of committing the act."
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Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
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from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 2:39:16 PM
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