The capri pants at Ann Taylor are piled high on the discount wall. Shoe stores are jammed with half-priced sandals. Even Abercrombie & Fitch has marked down its shorts and T-shirts.
Although retail sales picked up somewhat in May and June, it didn’t happen soon enough–or in a big enough way–to salvage what was a dismal spring selling season.
Pity the nation’s retailers for a moment. Now … ready, set and go for the markdowns.
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Merchants have been forced to discount their surpluses of warm-weather goods dramatically to make room for the fall merchandise that arrives in stores at the end of this month. And they aren’t fooling around with measly 10 percent or 20 percent markdowns. Look for sales of 30 percent to 50 percent off on summer items.
Such earnest discounting usually doesn’t begin until after the July 4th holiday. But this year, goods were significantly marked down by mid-June. And there will be even more price slashing until the end of July, when the autumn offerings roll in, experts say.
“There’s some pretty deep discounting going on out there,” said Michael P. Niemira, a senior economist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York.
Retailers had counted on a late-season Easter holiday (which promotes sales of warm-weather clothing) and the ebbing of the fighting in Iraq to boost shoppers’ confidence beginning in April, analysts said.
But unseasonably cold, wet weather and lingering fears of a shaky economy kept consumers in many parts of the country wearing last year’s sweaters and sweat pants into June.
By the time the weather warmed up and dried out (sort of), the chances for a solid apparel season were shot–at least from the merchants’ point of view.
Although all sorts of summer gear, such as grills and sprinklers, are on sale, the deepest discounts are in apparel.
This spring, it took 1.6 months to sell merchandise, up from 1.54 months a year earlier and continuing a pattern of inventory buildup since October, the U.S. Department of Commerce said.
“There’s a lot of inventory in the stores, and that means more promotions,” said Dan Butler of the National Retail Federation, a trade group in New York City. “It’s a fine time for shoppers.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])