With sales of more discretionary items such as accessories and jewelry picking up, Bloomingdale's CEO Michael Gould is hopeful that it will be a "very good December."
With sales of more discretionary items such as accessories and jewelry picking up, Bloomingdale's CEO Michael Gould is hopeful that it will be a "very good December."
Sales were robust on Cyber Monday, as retailers dangled free shipping and other offers in front of bargain-hungry consumers.
It wouldn’t have taken a crystal ball last year to predict that consumer spending would be under intense pressure in 2009. But as we look to 2010, there are some conflicting signals about how the coming year will shape up.
It looks like the holidays will be happy at Blue Nile.
In an interview on CNBC, Blue Nile President and CEO Diane Irvine said the online jewlery retailer is having its "best post-Thanksgiving ever."
"Today looks to be our best Cyber Monday ever," Irvine said. "So we're setting records all of the days of the weekend. We've exceeded our expectations, and I think what you're seeing is that consumers are coming online and seeing the convenience and the value."
(To hear the full interview with Blue Nile CEO Diane Irvine, click here.)
In the days following Thanksgiving, Blue Nile saw an increase in transactions valued at more than $20,000, Irvine said. She added that the biggest single transaction was the purchase of a 5-carat diamond for just under $100,000.
Is Cyber Monday the last vestige of dotcom hype?
The cost of buying the items from the classic "12 Days of Christmas" song increased by its smallest percentage in seven years in 2009, despite sharp rises in the price of gold and a minimum wage hike for the Eight Maids-a-Milking, according to PNC Bank's annual Christmas Price Index.
By all accounts, the holiday season appears to be off to a robust start, with lines longer and carts fuller than a year ago, but a key question remains: What will happen after the holiday madness fades?
With commercial real estate values down 37 percent compared with one year ago, a new industry is jumping in on the pop-up location trend.
Consumers seem to be building momentum heading into the holiday shopping season.
Trying to guess your wife's jean size this holiday will probably get you into even more trouble than if you come home empty-handed.