Britt Beemer Quotes (75 Quotes)


    Shoppers won't just be at the mall this weekend, but they will be checking things out online. Where they find the better deal is where they might actually make the purchase.

    Retailers are fighting lower profits than in years past. The industry's is definitely more competitive today and companies have to do what they can to not take unnecessary markdowns,

    They will not make that mistake again this year, ... They could actually take a flat Christmas and move it up a half percent.

    When clothing styles went flat for a few years, people no longer had a reason to shop at department stores.

    They won't be there in 10 years. Most independent drugstores have given up and gone as the big drugstores come into town. ... It's kind of the end of an era.


    These Thanksgiving shopping numbers will be the lowest in a decade,

    The trouble is, if all they do is just change the name and change the logo, I'm not sure that's going to get rid of the Firestone image. They would have to re-paint the offices and move the headquarters and offices.

    China has given American consumers the best values they have seen in their lifetime.

    Their secret weapon has always been their french fries. I would say that if they do change the oils, I'll bet they did a million taste tests to make sure nothing has changed. But there's always that risk when you're tampering with a product.

    The trouble today with retailers is they can't afford to have too many underperforming stores. When 10 percent of your stores are unprofitable, you will start losing money. That wasn't the case years ago.

    The closer you are to them, the greater the impact they'll be. If you can get almost one out of four people to shop at an outlet mall, that's a lot of people. It might not impact East Cooper. It might not impact Summerville. But somebody's going to feel them because that's quite a bit of business.

    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.

    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.

    I've never seen this many consumers not done with their Christmas shopping.

    The luxury stores are the ones hitting the home runs and the discount stores are going to end up doing some pretty good numbers, ... I'm very worried that the middle part of the market is not here.

    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.

    Retail sales were pretty good, considering at the start of the season we were looking at 3 gasoline and were still recovering from the hurricanes. Consumers got out early and responded to early-bird specials, but there wasn't much new. There was no hot toy or hot apparel look.

    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.

    It's a reflection of the bargain-hunter mentality of America since Sept. 11. Americans certainly changed the way they look at what they spend their money on.

    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.

    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.

    Customers are being just as protective with their gift cards as they were with their own money when buying Christmas gifts. The idea of free money is all in the past. They want value or something very special.

    I think 10 years ago if this would have happened, there would have been a much higher level of aggravation, anger and frustration in the marketplace.

    The closer you get to Christmas, there's this mentality on the part of consumers where they're willing to go out just a little bit more to get the even bigger discounts.

    Only a month ago, I felt we could see the first negative selling season in over 20 years, but the drop in gas prices has given consumers a newfound shopping spirit that should sustain them throughout the month of December.

    There are a lot of wealthy income consumers that have given a lot of money to hurricane funds, and they're saying they're doing that in lieu of Christmas gifts,

    This is a core product category that generates a lot of profit from sales of products and the extended service warrantees. Sears needs to protect this business at all costs.

    With nothing hot to buy in decorations this Christmas, many stores started selling two weeks earlier than ever before, beginning in mid-September. Many stores skipped Thanksgiving altogether and went from Halloween to Christmas.

    The really good ones have developed some sort of product niche, whether they are the place to go to get the latest and greatest cook or travel books. They've developed a niche that makes them really unique.

    The first thing you would do is you'd assume responsibility,


    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'm surprised they kept any of the May company brands, frankly.

    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.

    They're trying to sell to a 2006 customer with a 1980s presentation. When people want to shop at your store because of a unique battery, that's a weak niche.

    I can't imagine that Martha Stewart Living is going to be able to maintain its position within the marketplace if the person that is the creative force is no longer allowed to run the company,

    I think at least a third of consumers that previously bought her products will abandon the brand. A number higher than that means the brand is dead.

    Parents have much lower spending plans this year, with the average at 296.20 compared with 411.24 a year ago.

    Sears gets five times more demand for its home appliances than Lowe's and Home Depot,

    Starting in the late 1980s, employees and prospective employees in the retail sector stopped looking at retail as a career opportunity. They look at it as a temporary stopover until something better comes along. When this happens, everybody loses -- employees, customers, stores, etc.

    Oldsmobile demand and sales did not collapse overnight. GM sat back and watched it happen, ... Your father's car ultimately became a hearse. You've got to have product categories that are growing categories. The four-door sedan is not the growing category

    High hotel rates that border on price gouging are the single biggest issue that I hear retailers complaining about, and they usually use the word 'abuse' in their complaint,

    I'm just amazed at how few people shopped, ... The lack of big discounts hurt retailers.

    I see an extremely promotional shopping environment. I've advised my retail clients to be super aggressive Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers don't want to do it from a margin perspective, but otherwise they won't see shoppers in stores. Consumers have less money to spend and they'll take their 'less money' elsewhere.

    Consumers love January because January has always been this great clearance month. If they don't see (sales), as they've proved this Christmas, they'll outwait the retailer.

    I think retailers will hold prices up to 40 percent off before Christmas and then go even deeper in January to clear inventory. No doubt, heavy discounts help sales but they hurt profits. And retailers, more than ever, know that they have to answer to Wall Street and not Main Street.

    What's happens is retailers become known for certain things. You want to be known for some product category. You want to be known for a return policy.

    At this point in the buying season, parents have only spent 71.96 so far, so there is time for stores to get aggressive and drive more sales,

    Retailers had a sales plan for Christmas, stayed with it and then benefited from a very strong January without giving up margins.

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


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