Majority of retailers anticipate growth during 2007 holiday shopping season

Majority of retailers anticipate growth
during 2007 holiday shopping season
Nearly 90 percent to hire the same or more seasonal employees

More than three-quarters of retailers believe their sales during the upcoming holiday shopping season will be at least as good or better than last year's, a survey of Retail Council of New York State members revealed. The council is the state's largest retail trade association, representing 5,000 stores of all size and variety from national chains to independent Main Street merchants.

Each year, the Retail Council conducts its Holiday Sales Watch, a survey of members between Thanksgiving and Christmas, to track retail sales and trends. To kick off the 2007 assessment, the council conducted a Holiday Season Forecast survey to get a sampling of what members believe the season holds in store for New York state retailers. The survey was mailed to Retail Council members in mid-September.

When asked whether they anticipated 2007 holiday season sales to be better than, worse than or the same as last year's holiday season, members' responses varied, with the majority of survey participants expressing a positive outlook: 37 percent they thought the season would be better than last; 41 percent said they thought the season would be as good as last.

"The forecast for the holiday selling season is bright with 78 percent of respondents telling us they believe their sales will be better than or about the same as last year," said James R. Sherin, president and chief executive officer of the Retail Council.

Participants who believe this season will be better than last year's generally identify personal business achievements, such as improved marketing, as sales generators. These achievements include advertising, reward programs, new products, redesigned stores and successfully soliciting sales out in the field. One merchant cited local support as a key factor, commenting, "We have worked hard to build local sales that we hope will be better than previous years."