Retail Chatter

If it was not getting so funny it would be sad.

First, as I noted last week, we can expect an eruption of headlines designed to terrify you into thinking that the consumer has dropped dead.

In an effort to get attention, any number of “experts” have provided “tracking by mall” data to prove to you that somehow, someway – bad news can be accepted as truth.

Even the NRF tells you it is nearly impossible to compare year over year this time around as “so much of the survey dynamics have had to change because of the massive growth of internet shopping.”

This year, weekend internet sales were up over 24% but note that well over 90 percent of stakes are still taking place in stores to this day.

That all being allowed for – retail sales were up at brick and mortar stores. The idea of trying to gauge actual sales on Black Friday when promotions started arriving in my inbox a week earlier, is laughable.

The real proof (truth) is in the pudding as they say. Just in the last hour, two headlines have hit the financial sites:

“PayPal processing is overloaded with Cyber Monday Traffic”

“Target Website Down – Overwhelmed with Cyber Monday Shoppers”

In Summary

We can choose to fret over the jobs number later in the week or any one of the other half dozen “important” numbers on the economy as the week unfolds. It will be for naught.

Instead we can have a very nice Holiday Season, go to the packed malls, grab a lunch at the packed restaurants or sit online and wait for the processing to go back to not being overwhelmed. Mind you, all while laughing at the headlines taunting us with how troubled we all are today during this joyous, blessed and wonderful time of year with family and friends.

Let’s Face It

The economy is trudging along – even as it has a few hits and misses along the path. We should be grateful to have an $18 trillion dollar base from which to grow.

The consumer is fine – backed up by trillions in the bank. Earnings were solid (ex-energy), jobs are solid, wage growth is solid, energy costs have plummeted and all the while, most still fret over something…anything will do.

In time we will learn to thank our lucky stars for all the fear.

Look for choppy periods to take advantage of as we head into the meat of the Holiday Season.

Even with Chop, 2016 is set to be better than we think : )
See ya in line on the web – shopping.