The clamor and consumerism of Black Friday has come and gone, wiping out many stores of their highly reduced retail items. Yet for many winter apparel retailers, this has not been the case.
As this Thanksgiving was one of the warmest holidays in recent records, the demand for winter gear is at a shocking low. This means bad news for these retailers’ bottom line.
In order to make up for the little winter apparel transactions that transpired, retailers from Saks Fifth Avenue to North Face will be forced to slash prices even further.
According to the New York Post, many of these retailers took cues from last year’s winter demands. As many will recall, New York’s winter began early and left quite late, with freezing temperatures and foot upon foot of snow ravaging both upstate and downstate New York.
“A lot of retailers based their inventory purchasing on last year’s weather,” said Scott Bernhardt, president of Planalytics.
Because of this, discounts on winter gear were tremendous this year, with reductions of as much as 50% off during Black Friday.
And according to experts, these prices are only predicted to drop further.
“A lot of retailers based their inventory purchasing on last year’s weather,” said Scott Bernhardt, president of Planalytics.
Staying inside is, of course, always an option during the cold winter months. Even if those winter jackets and gear never make it off the store racks, weatherized windows are extremely efficient at keeping homes warm these days. In fact, Energy Star windows are so effective in terms of insulation that they can lower one’s heating and cooling costs by as much as 15%.
It appears that this is the course of many consumers this year. Despite low winter gear sales, retailers saw high sales performance for electronics, toys, and games.
For example, “Pie Face,” a resurrected low-tech game from the 1960s by Hasbro, is in such popular demand that it’s largely sold out.
“It’s tough to find, and out of stock at most retailers as of Black Friday,” said Jim Silver, chief executive for the consumer toy review site, TTPM.
