Analyst: Holiday Shopping Dried Up After Black Friday
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A retail analyst says his latest survey of consumers suggests the holiday shopping season petered out after Black Friday.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, the survey conducted this past weekend finds four in 10 consumers say they are done with their holiday shopping. At a 10-year high, 74 percent say they are staying within their budgets.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports
Podcast
That might sound like good news, but it's not.
Analyst Britt Beemer, a frequent guest on the WBBM Noon Business Hour, says consumers told his researchers after going all out on Black Friday deals, they're now tapped out.
"They're basically spending what they have week to week, so now, if retailers are able to get people in their stores, they've got to do it with not 50 percent off, but 60 and 70 percent off sales, and I don't think retailers are going to give consumers 60 percent off this year," Beemer said.
Beemer calls the findings the bleakest in the survey's 27-year history, and says the optimism from the initial burst of holiday shopping appears to have been a mirage.
He expects for the season, sales will be up a mere 2.6 to 2.8 percent over last year.
