U.S. retail season in slow start

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 32, ISSUE 37, NOVEMBER 24, 2008
The following extract is reproduced with permission from Sandy Parker Reports, Weekly International Fur News. Sandy Parker has been covering the fur industry for more than four decades. For most of that time he has published a weekly newsletter, detailing results of international pelt auctions, wholesale price trends, business developments and movements in the trade, as well as economic and political activities that may impact on it.
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International Fur News
with Sandy Parker
U.S. retail season in slow start
NOVEMBER HAS ARRIVED AND THE CURTAIN IS UP for the first act of the main fur selling season, but the well-rehearsed cast appears to be performing to a less than sold-out theater. Even sharp discounts are not pulling in the kind of audiences that the promoters had been hoping for. And the scene is international in scope, confirming earlier concerns that the financial crisis and economic problems that have encircled the globe might impact on fur sales.
A spot check of important retail areas in the U.S. last week found that November sales were running between 30% and 40% below last year’s month, which had been described as mostly sluggish. Significantly, last year’s sluggishness was attributed to mild weather, whereas this month’s weather has been described as mostly favorable. Retailers commented that this was the first time in memory that they couldn’t blame poor November sales on the weather.
THE BIG RUSSIAN AND CHINESE MARKETS ARE NOT DOING MUCH BETTER, according to early reports. Although this also was believed to reflect many of the same economic factors weighing on the Western markets, it was noted that Russia’s weather has been running milder than usual for this time of the year, which may be at least partly responsible for the slower start.
Major Russian retailers, who had been gearing for further sales increases, are now said to be projecting declines of as much as 20%. Considering that Russia has become the biggest customer for furs manufactured in China, a cutback of those proportions has to have an impact on the Chinese trade.
China’s retail business is described as just okay in the northern areas, where the weather has been normal, but off elsewhere. Here, too, however, weather is understood to have taken a back seat to economic factors which are affecting business in general and non-essential spending in particular.
IN THIS ISSUE:
U.S. Retail Season in Slow Start
Weather OK, but Economy Not
Russia, China also Affected
Sharp Price Cutting Expected
Auctions Seen Opening Lower
For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Index. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.
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