Britt Beemer Quotations

With their low margins, they can't afford to have unprofitable stores. It could destroy the profitability of the chain.

With nothing hot to buy in decorations this Christmas, many stores started selling two weeks earlier than ever before, beginning in mid-September. Many stores skipped Thanksgiving altogether and went from Halloween to Christmas.

La-Z-Boy hasn't done much with football since that one campaign and I thought that was a mistake. They haven't made that connection with every Super Bowl and I think that is a mistake.

Sears gets five times more demand for its home appliances than Lowe's and Home Depot,

She was off the charts. Right up there with Martha Stewart.

Oldsmobile demand and sales did not collapse overnight. GM sat back and watched it happen, ... Your father's car ultimately became a hearse. You've got to have product categories that are growing categories. The four-door sedan is not the growing category.

Shoppers won't just be at the mall this weekend, but they will be checking things out online. Where they find the better deal is where they might actually make the purchase.

One in five people are being impacted by all these advertising lawyers on television, telling Americans it's not a problem.

Only a month ago, I felt we could see the first negative selling season in over 20 years, but the drop in gas prices has given consumers a newfound shopping spirit that should sustain them throughout the month of December.

One thing that shocked me was that the number of consumers planning to buy gift cards this Christmas is not as big as last year.

More Americans are waiting to the end to shop for Christmas than any other time in the last 10 years. The consumer was never excited about anything that they saw this Christmas.

Retail sales were pretty good, considering at the start of the season we were looking at $3 gasoline and were still recovering from the hurricanes. Consumers got out early and responded to early-bird specials, but there wasn't much new. There was no hot toy or hot apparel look.

China has given American consumers the best values they have seen in their lifetime.

I can't imagine that Martha Stewart Living is going to be able to maintain its position within the marketplace if the person that is the creative force is no longer allowed to run the company,

Gift cards are strongest when there's nothing to buy.

Gift cards are becoming an easier gift to give. Of course, nobody ever returned cash, either.

I would say that the first quarter of next year probably has already been doomed by this episode,

It costs some retailers as much as 20 percent per item to retag it, get it back on the shelf or rack and try to sell it again.

It costs some retailers as much as 20 percent per item to re-tag it, get it back on the shelf or rack and try to sell it again.

It certainly is a niche. But there's no guarantee of success. You just have to have people talking about it from the day you open.

I think the big story of Christmas will be this shift in consumer attitudes where people felt that stores gouged them with their pricing strategy. The 30 to 40 percent discounts this year instead of the 50 to 70 percent off last year will help profits but will hurt customer loyalty in the long term.

I think at least a third of consumers that previously bought her products will abandon the brand. A number higher than that means the brand is dead.

I think that Wal-Mart has come to the realization that it cannot be focused on low-prices alone. They need a broader offering.

I think they've got to be aggressive and to make Martha more accessible initially, ... America has got to know that she's not the same defiant Martha she was before. That's the challenge. If she can be humble through all of this, I think America will forgive her.

J.C. Penney will probably be the most promotional store this year, similar to last year, and they'll probably have a good Christmas because of it.

I think consumers want to see a choice.

I see an extremely promotional shopping environment. I've advised my retail clients to be super aggressive Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers don't want to do it from a margin perspective, but otherwise they won't see shoppers in stores. Consumers have less money to spend and they'll take their 'less money' elsewhere.

Parents have much lower spending plans this year, with the average at $296.20 compared with $411.24 a year ago.

Over the last couple years, chains have tried to do something different -- they're trying to give consumers a different look, a different style.

Overall, the moderate-priced stores such as J.C. Penney, Sears and Wal-Mart had good traffic levels. We think luxury sales were probably flat this past weekend because more people said they decided to go away on vacation before Christmas this year than last year. So this could have impacted spending on other high-end items.

Retailers had a sales plan for Christmas, stayed with it and then benefited from a very strong January without giving up margins.

Retailers are fighting lower profits than in years past. The industry's is definitely more competitive today and companies have to do what they can to not take unnecessary markdowns.

Retailers are caught in a 'Catch-22' situation. Their costs, such as transportation costs, are going up and this is not going to change in the short term. Meanwhile, their consumers are going to be extremely deal focused.

Our research on holiday gift returns shows that it's only three percent of Americans who are real jerks and they indulge in consumer fraud and return abuse. The rest of us have to deal with the consequences.

Starting in the late 1980s, employees and prospective employees in the retail sector stopped looking at retail as a career opportunity. They look at it as a temporary stopover until something better comes along. When this happens, everybody loses -- employees, customers, stores, etc.

Some of the this may be attributed to the removal of the quotas and some to the strength of retail sales.

I won't be surprised if a day comes very soon when the customer is charged $5 for every return. On the one hand, tougher measures frustrate the consumer. But retailers also don't want to struggle with unnecessary discounts.

I think retailers will hold prices up to 40 percent off before Christmas and then go even deeper in January to clear inventory. No doubt, heavy discounts help sales but they hurt profits. And retailers, more than ever, know that they have to answer to Wall Street and not Main Street.

Today, only about one-third of holiday purchases are returned as compared to just four years ago, ... Returns are very expensive for retailers because they have to retag the item and mark down the price. If I bought something for $29 and return it, store may have to cut the price to as low as $14 before restocking it.

Wal-Mart has had a much stronger gift-card season than last year, so that might explain why their (December) sales figure is not as good.

Wal-Mart deserves their high admiration level because they do what they say. They give America a place to buy at low prices in stores where employees seem happy to be there and willing to assist customers when questions are asked.

The really good ones have developed some sort of product niche, whether they are the place to go to get the latest and greatest cook or travel books. They've developed a niche that makes them really unique.

This summer, the consumer was cautious, with all the uncertainty going on in the country. But almost all of those worries are gone, and that is good news at the start of the holiday season.

When clothing styles went flat for a few years, people no longer had a reason to shop at department stores.

There are a number of consumers I've talked to who have given money to hurricane funds in lieu of gifts. Last year luxury retail was the grand slam .... If this shopper cuts back, it will send Wall Street into a spin.

There are a lot of wealthy income consumers that have given a lot of money to hurricane funds, and they're saying they're doing that in lieu of Christmas gifts,

To a great extent, the brand has become a non-brand. It has not been nurtured or built upon for the last few years. They won't necessarily save money, but they'll consolidate their advertising dollars to a limited number of brands and do it better.

What's happens is retailers become known for certain things. You want to be known for some product category. You want to be known for a return policy.

At this point in the buying season, parents have only spent $71.96 so far, so there is time for stores to get aggressive and drive more sales,

Consumers this year just never got enamored with what they saw.

Customers are being just as protective with their gift cards as they were with their own money when buying Christmas gifts. The idea of free money is all in the past. They want value or something very special.

Electronics is particularly hot cause there is nothing else that has created much excitement for consumers. Our research indicates that 44 percent of shoppers have completed their holiday shopping and about 20 percent still have to start it. This weekend we think more dollars will be spent overall. Apparel sales could benefit form colder weather but watch out for electronics to come out on top again.

Electronics continue to lead all categories in year-over-year sales growth for the holidays.

There's no doubt in my mind that the day that the CEO from Bridgestone/Firestone was put on the air to apologize for this, it would be the very last day that that person would be working there, ... For a Japanese executive to go that far and assume the responsibility really is tantamount to saying, 'I've caused all these problems with my bad management style,' and that's why I think you'll see somebody go into Bridgestone and I'll bet he'll make huge changes.

The toy category continues to struggle. Our survey shows that this year 33.5 percent of weekend shoppers said they bought toys compared with 37.5 percent last year. The big surprise was electronics, which came in flat with last year at 19.7 percent. One reason for this could be that people simply couldn't find what they were looking for.

The toy category continues to struggle, ... Our survey shows that this year 33.5 percent of weekend shoppers said they bought toys compared with 37.5 percent last year. The big surprise was electronics, which came in flat with last year at 19.7 percent. One reason for this could be that people simply couldn't find what they were looking for.

I've never seen this many consumers not done with their Christmas shopping.

The success of GM's employee discount sale is a great example that consumers still are in a mood to buy. However, I think Christmas spending could be a little narrower than last year.

I've advised clients that when you get into these types of situations, the PR battles are so bad. You might as well get out of it and not fight it.

(Teens) are hard to market to because they have to see the final product before they can tell you whether they like it. When you lose teen customers, it's hard to get them back.

Back to school is a very important season for retailers because it's one chance in the year when retailers get a shot at parents and kids at the same time. Historically, sports figures have been the big players; now it's a different breed of endorsers taking over.

That number is almost double from last year when only 20 percent of consumers polled has a similar response,

This is going to be a big week, no question.

They're trying to sell to a 2006 customer with a 1980s presentation. When people want to shop at your store because of a unique battery, that's a weak niche.

They saw Wal-Mart coming at them. I think Target may have to sharpen some of their prices a little bit more.

About 30% of people who got gift cards plan to use them this week. Many retailers are going to be putting out spring merchandise to get people excited about it.

It's a reflection of the bargain-hunter mentality of America since Sept. 11. Americans certainly changed the way they look at what they spend their money on.

It's a typical, mediocre Christmas season. But we've gone through the last years with no hot new toy and no hot apparel look. There's no reason to shop early.

It probably won't mean much lower prices. It's going to obviously give consumers greater convenience, and that's what consumers want with drugstores.

It's hard to escape a week without some negative story about Wal-Mart. Let's look at the facts. Wal-Mart is clearly the number one retailer in America. Average consumers have to buy the products that Wal-Mart sells and they do this each and every week. The consumer isn't interested in the origin of the products purchased as long as merchandise meets their expectations.

Consumers really got a monkey off their back when gas prices came down. I do expect this year that Black Friday will be the biggest (shopping) day of the year.

Consumers might think (restocking fees) are unfair. As long as they feel it's unfair, they'll be less likely to go back to that store.

Consumers love January because January has always been this great clearance month. If they don't see (sales), as they've proved this Christmas, they'll outwait the retailer.

Consumers look around and see (the Home store's) $1,299 sofa and see others for $699 or $799 at other stores and it's a reality check. I find after the hoopla is over, they become retail museums.

Consumers believe that the bigger, better deals happen closer to Christmas, and they're willing to wait. Last year, lots of consumers were disappointed because they didn't see the early discounts. Shoppers are playing a game of cat and mouse, and they're waiting to see if the retailers will outlast them.

It's interesting they flipped the jobs. They want the future CEO to have experience on the domestic and international side equally. It may be that Wal-Mart looks at the international side as equal to the U.S.

They won't be there in 10 years. Most independent drugstores have given up and gone as the big drugstores come into town. ... It's kind of the end of an era.

They will not make that mistake again this year, ... They could actually take a flat Christmas and move it up a half percent.

These Thanksgiving shopping numbers will be the lowest in a decade,

Their secret weapon has always been their french fries. I would say that if they do change the oils, I'll bet they did a million taste tests to make sure nothing has changed. But there's always that risk when you're tampering with a product.

The consumer that's going to Wal-Mart is going to be very price-driven. The person who goes to one of these stores may be very high-tech-driven.

I'm sure that Chrysler has been debating this for years. It's probably easier for Daimler to make the decision than for Chrysler.

I'm just amazed at how few people shopped, ... The lack of big discounts hurt retailers.

If I were Firestone I would certainly slash my prices. I think the time window is rapidly running out on Firestone. I would have dropped the video in the very beginning, but in some cases they chose to bury their heads in the sand.

I'm worried right now that we could have the first negative Christmas selling season in two decades,

I'm surprised they kept any of the May company brands, frankly.

I probably would produce a little four-minute video mailer explaining exactly what happened and expressing remorseful feelings.

I think 10 years ago if this would have happened, there would have been a much higher level of aggravation, anger and frustration in the marketplace.

High hotel rates that border on price gouging are the single biggest issue that I hear retailers complaining about, and they usually use the word 'abuse' in their complaint,

I don't think the day is the kind of day that retailers thought it would be. Christmas Eve is seldom the big day because of the fact that so many consumers ... want to be home.

The luxury stores are the ones hitting the home runs and the discount stores are going to end up doing some pretty good numbers, ... I'm very worried that the middle part of the market is not here.

The trouble today with retailers is they can't afford to have too many underperforming stores. When 10 percent of your stores are unprofitable, you will start losing money. That wasn't the case years ago.

The trouble is, if all they do is just change the name and change the logo, I'm not sure that's going to get rid of the Firestone image. They would have to re-paint the offices and move the headquarters and offices.

This is a core product category that generates a lot of profit from sales of products and the extended service warrantees. Sears needs to protect this business at all costs.

The first thing you would do is you'd assume responsibility,

The closer you get to Christmas, there's this mentality on the part of consumers where they're willing to go out just a little bit more to get the even bigger discounts.

The closer you are to them, the greater the impact they'll be. If you can get almost one out of four people to shop at an outlet mall, that's a lot of people. It might not impact East Cooper. It might not impact Summerville. But somebody's going to feel them because that's quite a bit of business.

A middle-income shopper may migrate to a Nordstrom from a Macy's and spend $65 instead of $45 on a gift because they are serviced better at a Nordstrom, ... Department store chains like Sears and J.C. Penney need to be very aware of this if they want to retain their shoppers over the holidays.