Wednesday, December 3, 2008

FASHION AND THIS ECONOMY

So, even though we are in an economic recession that seems to be affecting people in this economy, sales on black Friday were up 3% nationwide! While middle-retailers like Mervyn's are sinking, discount firms and luxury are doing well. In fact, Tiffany's celebrated the opening of their new store in Southern California last month and plans several more new stores next year.

What's up with this? Does the news really reflect the way consumers are thinking?

6 comments:

LADYBRILLE.com said...

Leslie, welcome to Blogsville.

Where do you have the time? I am barely keeping up!

To answer your question,Black Friday sales were up because of major price cuts with retailers. So, while we consumers where happy, retailers are suffering because they've had to provide deep discounts and suffer a loss... although one could argue that the discount they are offering is probably how much they should have been selling their merchandise in the first place.

You know an interesting phenomenon is the fashion industry supposedly doing well in places like India, Dubai! Hmmmm . . . .

Uduak

LADYBRILLE.com said...

Excuse the typos and grammatical errors. Lol!

Leslie Asfour said...

Yes, while there were deep discounts this year, prices were actually higher due to inflation.

report just out: TIFFANY'S: The fashion jewelry retailer said that while profits in the quarter ended Oct. 31, 2008, were less than half the same period a year ago, they actually rose 13 percent if you excluded one-time items. However, sales were down 1 percent – down 7 percent in the U.S., where same-store sales fell 14 percent. Though the retailer’s profits topped Wall Street expectations, sales overall fell short of analysts’ forecasts.

Sales at Tiffany's flagship New York location declined 5 percent. Overseas, revenue in the Asia-Pacific region rose 3 percent and sales in Europe gained 16 percent.

So, while the U.S. markets are not meeting expectations, with the decline of the U.S. dollar, U.S. companies are experiencing growth in the European market. This is an interesting spin on the economic prospects for American companies and product.

Unknown said...

Yes....went Christmas shopping today @ the high-end Fashion Valley mall stores & there seems to be no decline of the economic state of Southern Cali...lol...very entertaining people watching down here!!! :0)

Leslie Asfour said...

We're actually hearing from many retailers that sales are good, even up from last year. Although they have to work harder, they are selling. The super rich seem not really affected, as spending in luxury seems to be continually high. I think the recession is affecting a strong percentage of Americans in specific job occupations and at specific levels of income. But, it doesn't seem to be a world wide recession as once predicted. Some analyst say it's as bad as the great depression. But, 43% of Americans were out of work then. It certainly hasn't become that bad. So, what is to happen to fashion, true fashion? Which brands will survive this and which will shrink? And, why? Is this just the economy balancing itself out? Is there just too much product out there and so little quality and so few brands really paying attention?

Anonymous said...

Great to see you in blogland Leslie...

As far as the shopping season...

Seems to be the fundamentals are still sound. The products are as good if not better than ever, the housing market is finally rising from bottom and the gas is the cheapest its been in years...

Maybe I'm an optimist but people SHOULD be buying...

The worrying thing about the discount end is the fact that in tough times buying quality makes more sense than ever. I'm concerned this holiday we'll be filling our houses with marked down junk!