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Britt Beemer America's Research Group articles most recent first Furniture Buying Index Falls in May Consumers Shift Spending To What They Need, Not What They Want Furniture Buying Index Drops Two More Points; Wal Mart Expands Home Furnishings In Midst of Sluggish Furniture Sales Beemer - Many Retailers In Free Fall After Disappointing December August Retail Sales Surge; Home Furnishings, Accessories Lag behind Expert Predicts Back-to-School Spending to Grow Meagerly in 2007 Retail Shopping Takes A Holiday Early Indications Are For A Frugal First Quarter Independent Retailers Outperformed Chain Stores In December Britt Beemer Lowers Forecast of Christmas Retail Sales to 2.7% Rise Over Last Year; Lack of “Must Have” Item to Blame Want To Drive Shoppers Away? Decorate Stores Less and Don’t Say “Merry Christmas” 2006 Q4 Shoppers Study Revealing; Cyber Monday a Hoax, Biggest Retail Push Will Be After December 15th 10 Trends For Retail Christmas 2006 Survey; Parents Cite High Gas Prices As Primary Reason For Limiting Back To School Spending Families Reduce Summer Spending As Gas Prices Rise Or Was It? New Survey Casts Doubt On Rosie Black Friday Survey; Bargain Hunters Drive June Results Top 10 Retail Stores For April; Discounts Drive Traffic Survey Says Americans Extremely Optimist About The Future 37% Of Shoppers Noticed Less Christmas Decorations In Stores; Spent Less As A Result America’s Research Group; Shopping Levels Increasing But Still Expected To Be Lackluster 3.2% Over 2003 Lack Of Hot New Product Weighing Heavily On Holiday Shopping Survey Of Thanksgiving Weekend Shoppers; "We're Not Impressed"; 45% Say Discounts Not Enough Britt Beemer’s Christmas 2004 Sales Forecast; 19% Will Spend More Since Bush Was Reelected Seven Things Your Store’s Appearance Tells Your Customers Britt Beemer Cites Convenience As Key To Drawing Male Shoppers Beemer Lowers Christmas Sales Projection to 4.2% Increase This Year Compared To His Earlier 4.8% Sales Increase survey 31.0% of Americans Who Planned to Shop Thanksgiving Weekend Did Not Get Around To It Study Shows 11% Increase In Consumer Spending For Appliance, Electronics, Computers Britt Beemer Predicts 4.8% Increase In Holiday Spending survey Furniture Leads All Categories For Shopping Levels Over Labor Day Weekend survey Consumers Plan to Spend 10% More on Back to School Furniture Buying Index Up One Point Buying furniture is on consumers’ minds, but not a top priority Shopping Is Not a Big Priority for Many Americans The Incredible Shrinking Customer Base How Loyal is Your Customer? The Loyalty American Consumers Have Towards Brand Products

"My earlier forecast of 3.2% still looks good after two lackluster weekends of Christmas gift buying. This lack of any hot products or toys still weighs heavily on shoppers who do not need to spend more this Christmas."
Britt Beemer, America's Research Group

America's Research Group (ARG) conducted 800 consumer interviews on Sunday December 5, 2004 to gauge Holiday shopping patterns versus last year.(error factor of +/-4.3%.)

(With last year having one less weekend, ARG compared this weekend to the same weekend in 2002.)

Highlights
In 2002 34.5% shopped first at Wal-Mart over the weekend compared to only 20.7% this year.

Shopping levels over the weekend were lower typically 58% to 48% of Americans shop this first weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year only 46.5% took to the busy streets to shop for Christmas gifts.

Electronics are the surprise of Christmas gift giving this year when asking shoppers what were their top three gifts they were giving this 28.1% said electronics compared to 21.9% in 2002.

Shoppers are not splurging on themselves like they have in years past. Only 36.9% have bought something nice for themselves compared to 42.8% in 2002.

There is still a lot of shopping to be done since only 22.3% are finished or nearly finished this year compared to 26.0% who were basically done in 2004.

Of those 30% of Americans who are waiting until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping, 66.2% are waiting for big discounts and big sales so they can stretch their gift giving.

Only 19.5% have not stayed within their planned Christmas budget compared to 17.9% in 2004.

Last year nearly half of America gave gift cards, but 10% of America is still unsure whether they will again this year.

Still one in three, 32.4%, are not impressed with the level of Christmas decorations in retail stores this Christmas.

Only 30.1% of parents have completed their Christmas shopping for their children.

My earlier forecast of 3.2% still looks good after two lackluster weekends of Christmas gift buying. This lack of any hot products or toys still weighs heavily on shoppers who do not need to spend more this Christmas. The big surprise question of Christmas is Wal-Mart’s steep decline in shopping levels. They will need to see big shopping levels the last two weekends for them to hit their modest 2% to 4% sales forecast.