Retailers' Dreams for "Green" Xmas Come True
For retailers, five of the top sales days of the year happen in this week leading up to Christmas. After a strong "Super Saturday", Shopper Track is now forecasting holiday sales will jump 4 percent this season, reports CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason.
"It's clearly a turn after two negative years in a row for the holiday season," says Shopper Trak's Bill Martin.
The winners and losers so far: electronics are up just .4 percent. Sales of 3D TVs have been disappointing. But jewelry is up 2.6 percent. Women's clothing is up 4.4 percent, while men's clothing 8.8 percent. And with shoppers spending more on gifts, retailers are spending more on advertising.
"Advertisers have got more confident about telling us to spend money," said Mike Chapman, editor of Adweek.
Chapman says companies are taking more risks, like Target with its shopaholic pitch lady. Love her or hate her, she's impossible to ignore.
"In many ways that's the secret sauce, to get attention any way you can," said Chapman. "Target have definitely delivered that with their shopping obsessed crazy woman."
Online spending is up 12 percent so far this holiday, and retailers are using the internet as a promotional weapon to spread word of mouth.
"It's a real fight to the finish," said analyst Chandi Neubauer.
Neubauer says sales at Abercrombie have rebounded after it started to offer promotional deals to its more than 3 million fans on Facebook.
"If I'm a fan of Abercrombie and Fitch on Facebook and I see this pop up on my newsfeed, I feel like they're speaking directly to me," said Neubauer.
"It keeps me up to date on the fashion and helps me save a little money around the holidays," said Abercrombie shopper Justin Wenner.
After "Black Friday" and the just past "Super Saturday", this coming Thursday is expected to be the third biggest shopping day of the year. Retailers call it "Father's Day" because of all the procrastinating dads who'll be looking out for last minute gifts.
