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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

When compared to the 2006 Christmas shopping season, the results are even more alarming. Nearly 8 in 10 retail categories showed declines in shopping levels from Christmas of 2006.

By Britt Beemer, America's Research Group

Many of the nation's retailers took it on the chin over Christmas, and are now faced with the daunting task of how to lure customers back to their stores.

Of the 26 retail categories we survey for America's Research Group's Consumer Mind Reader survey, more than half showed declines in store visits from 2006 Christmas shopping levels. The 800 shoppers we interviewed reported they had abandoned many specialty retailers, membership warehouse clubs, furniture and accessories stores, discount apparel and shoe stores, and a host of other categories.

When compared to the 2006 Christmas shopping season, the results are even more alarming. Nearly 8 in 10 retail categories showed declines in shopping levels from Christmas of 2006.

Many stores showed shopping declines over last year's levels. Categories seeing fewer customers included national department stores, and retailers of discount apparel, books, Christian books, bed and bath, home accessories, sporting goods, shoes, furniture, catalogs, music and musical instruments. Even toy stores showed a decline in Christmas shoppers.

After the big rush on Black Friday, the slow start to major Christmas shopping did not help the situation for many retailers. Consumers are aware of the widely-practiced retail strategy of marking down merchandise as the holidays draw closer. And they are willing to out wait the retailers to buy, even if it means facing larger crowds.

Shopping convenience and ease of shopping are also at issue. Busy consumers today are more likely to shop stores they can buy several different items.

Categories on opposite ends of the retail spectrum were among the few to break the trend of the dismal season. Discount stores and jewelry stores actually improved their shopping levels slightly when compared with the 2007 Christmas season.

But unfortunately the remaining categories fell through the cracks when it came time to attract consumers into their stores. Retailers must recognize that the consumer is in a changing and evolving mode. Their old shopping patterns no longer hold true. Retailers must force themselves to get inside the shopper's mind early and often, from a scientific viewpoint, and adopt strategies that will appeal to those consumers. Only through conducting thorough, quantitative research through a company such as America's Research Group can retailers find out what's going on with their shoppers and how they can win them back.

Big losers according to Britt Beemer were Home Accessories Stores, Music Stores, National Department Stores and Specialty Retailers.