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Britt Beemer America's Research Group articles most recent first Beemer Predicts Retail Train Wreck Consumers Postponing Major Purchases; Jewelry Hardest Hit 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

When you are looking at a Christmas season where comp store sales growth will be 3% or less and that 8% of consumers are not shopping your store due to a poor decorations, retail executives need to take notice.
C. Britt Beemer, CEO, America's Research Group

More and more shoppers are expressing their displeasure at the meager Christmas decorations they are seeing in the stores, according to surveys conducted by America's Research Group (ARG), which track Christmas retail sales. Two in five consumers (40.8%) feel stores are less decorated this Christmas compared to years past. Last year at this time, only 23.8% felt stores were decorated less, double the number of complaining consumers in 2004 (11.6%).

“Consumers cite three principal lacks in store decoration: no Santa Claus or Christmas signage, no decorations/very few decorations in or on the windows, and no real distinctiveness about the store – looks like any other store,” says C. Britt Beemer, founder and CEO of ARG.

Over one fifth of consumers (21.6%) acknowledged they shopped at stores with few decorations. When asked to describe in what way they were not decorated, 25.4% said “no decorations at the front entrance,” 22.0% said “no decorations/very few decorations in or on the windows,” 16.2% said, “did not say Merry Christmas,” 15.6% said “there was no change in the store except for an aisle or two” and 12.1% said “there was no Santa Claus or Christmas signage” in the stores they shopped.

The number of shoppers who did not shop at a particular store due to few or no Christmas decorations has doubled from 4.1% in 2005 to 7.9% this year.

“When you are looking at a Christmas season where comp store sales growth will be 3% or less and that 8% of consumers are not shopping your store due to a poor decorations, retail executives need to take notice,” Beemer says. “Based upon these trends, retailers need to re-prioritize their store displays during the Christmas shopping season or more shoppers will walk out next year,” he predicts. Beemer blames the trend on “Wall-Street-driven” executives at retailers who place short-term earnings above long-term market success.

ARG surveyors have interviewed some 3,000 adults in three Christmas retail surveys, beginning in mid November.