Michael Niemira Quotes (111 Quotes)

I think there's less worry on the consumer, and our focus ought to be more 'Does business, capital spending pick up'... That's much more meaningful going forward.

There are loads of concerns out there, and as a result, the basic backdrop of this holiday season will be one that is much more uncertain.

It was a moderate sales performance good but not great. It really showed the resilience of consumers to spend on the holiday despite some strong head winds.

The bottom line is, the holiday sales performance is likely to be the weakest on record.

We worry about the impact of gasoline and inflation, but it's still nothing more than a worry. The reality is that the consumer continues to spend at a pretty healthy pace.

It's an uncomfortable forecast to the extent that nothing else seems to be going the right way for the economy, and ultimately, how can that support a decent-to-okay kind of Christmas ... That's the question. Four percent is not aggressive, but it does suggest improvement over last year.

Retail overall is still fighting the same war, which is the economy. The bigger hurdle for retailers is June, where the comparisons get even tougher overall at 5.1 percent growth at this time last year.

Phase one at least met very modest expectations. It came late and it was uneven. Now, we are in phase two, which is taking on a different character. It could make a modest Christmas into a much better Christmas.

Basically, the consumer will hang in there. Unless there's some kind of a major problem, the consumer tends to be more passive and will continue to spend if credit is available.

It seems clear that the mild pullback in consumer spending over the last week was due in part to the war beginning in the middle of a week, as well as the fact that the effects of the war have been built into the retail trend for the past month or so.

October's sales performance highlights that there is underlying demand across sectors, and it remains relatively steady as we head into the holiday season.

I think you have to read between the lines. In September, retailers say things are on- to above-plan, that's reassuring, even with easier comparisons for the industry. The tone will be important, particularly with some of the department stores. If you continue to hear below-plan sales, that would be worrisome.

My concern is that the luxury market has topped in terms of spending growth after a two-year upturn.

Our own surveys of 1,000 U.S. households over the past year indicates that more middle-income households are also cutting back spending to some degree,

All the worries - in terms of housing, interest rates, inflation, energy prices - are clearly at hand. But we haven't seen that worry turn into a dramatic pullback on the part of the consumer. We're seeing a moderately strong pace of sales for now, and that's the good news.

Wal-Mart is not a bellwether for the broader industry this season. The action isn't among their customers.

February was a volatile month for sales, swaying between blasts of winter weather and short tastes of spring.

Last week's sharp decline in consumer confidence, as measured by the ABC NewsWashington Post Consumer Comfort Index, may have been a precursor of this week's spending drop.

Our research told us that one-third of holiday shoppers would shop later in the season compared to last years. That certainly affected last week's sales and gave a lift to overall sales,

Retail sales (have) faced a number of challenges -- one of the hottest month of September on record in the last 111 years ... which hurt fall apparel categories, two powerful hurricanes and high gasoline prices, all of which tempered consumer demand,

These trends give some confidence that the first quarter will be tough for retailers. Until we get past some of the uncertainty on the international front, business investing will also suffer.

As we look toward August, ICSC continues to expect the overall outlook to remain positive as additional states begin to offer their sales-tax holidays, which will continue to help spur customer traffic over the coming weeks,

Despite the weather-induced dip in sales compared to the same period last year, it is not clear whether it was just a shifting in demand to future shopping days or mediums such as online and catalog sales.

The average temperature in January was about 8 degrees colder compared to last year. Cold weather doesn't interfere with shopping. It's the bad weather, with the snow and ice that cuts traffic.

For instance, temperatures last week in the Northeast were 10 degrees warmer compared to the same period last year. That helped push sales of seasonal merchandise. Is all sales strength due to the weather That's hard to say.

The last-minute rush by consumers may have come too late. I think the season overall was uneven.

We saw softness in apparel and other seasonal merchandise in the latter part of March, ... While higher gas prices pinched tax refund money, consumers have also indicated that they traveled less to shopping centers. The impact from that aspect may not be huge but it was a factor.

It's a decent-to-moderate performance for the industry as a whole.

While retailers are pleased with (Christmas) performance, the holiday shopping season is far from over, since about 60 percent of gift-card redemptions occur between Dec. 26 and the end of January.

The risk to retailers is moderate right now because the gas price increases are hurting consumers more at the low-income spectrum. But these are also consumers who shop more frequently at discount stores like Wal-Mart.

If November sales are good and inventory is under control, that takes some of the sales pressure off in December.

We've been down this path before when a snowstorm hit the East in the first week of December last year. It was a major headache for the season and the industry never recovered from it,

What you're seeing is that some retailers are getting back to normal, but the weakness seems pretty widespread among department stores. So it's still an extremely fragile environment.

This past week retail chain store sales were affected by two key factors -- weather and the opening of the Olympics -- as consumers directed their attention to things other than shopping.

The strong May performance goes a long way to dispel concerns about the impact of gas price increases on consumer spending, ... I am surprised that the positive results were so widespread. It says 'Gee, the economic growth is clearly countering some of these other drags.'

Weather does matter more at certain times of the year than others.

Wow, wow, wow, ... We saw widespread gains across categories last month. Looking at the ex-auto component, the (favorable) comparisons are reaching back all the way to March 2000, prior to the slowdown at the peak of the economic recovery.

Yes, the numbers look good, but they should have looked better, ... Beneath the surface, it shows some strain.

With the fall season's first snow storm in the Upper Plains and a major cold front sweeping across the United States, this should certainly get consumers thinking about fall and even winter apparel as the month unfolds.

November's upward revision probably mitigates the miss in December but I think the total year-over-year sales comparison might be a better barometer.

This is the pause that refreshes. This is not a doomsday scenario.

So far it's been the lower-income consumers trimming their discretionary spending, ... However, a recent survey we did indicated that the gas and energy cost concerns may be moving up the income strata. That's something to watch out for.

We're not out of the woods on the gasoline front. And we are certainly not out of the woods on the broader energy front. We still have a second wave in the pipeline, which is home heating season expenses. And that comes about the time that the holiday season unfolds,

As Mother Nature turned kinder this past week, demand for Easter merchandise and Spring-related items finally drove sales.

While Black Friday is important to retailers, it's not always the best indicator for consumer shopping patterns during the remainder of the holiday season, which should allow the retail industry to continue feeling optimistic.

There was lots and lots of discounting this holiday season. From the beginning of November onward, it was very promotional and remains a backdrop for the season.

Consumers continued to buy for everyday needs, the staples, such as food, drugs, health and beauty aids.

While there is some concern regarding the continued retail sluggishness this season, consumers have an additional two days this year to finish their holiday shopping, which may boost this season's final retail performance.

We suspect the storm again hurt sales in the region. Even though this storm was a little more concentrated than last week's storm , it did cut into demand. It will be important to see if that demand is shifted to this week and to next weekend.

Luxury has a strong run and it will slow down in 2005. This is more a function of the natural rhythm of retail spending.