This year, retailers are preparing for what may be the worst holiday shopping season since 2008, according to FashionMag.com.
Department stores and clothing store chains are caught in a shopping catch-22. Retailers lower their prices to draw shoppers in. But shoppers, who already have low confidence, then hold back in anticipation of more bargains, Reuters reported.
"Retailers have created this expectation," Yarbrough told Reuters.
"We don't see an end to the promotional environment," Michael Weiss, chief executive of clothing retailer Express, told FashionMag.com. "That's the reality and we have to learn to deal with it."
Express, along with other popular chains reported lower than expected profits after the Thanksgiving shopping weekend.
According to the National Retail Federation, shoppers on Thanksgiving weekend spent three percent less than last year, FashionMag.com reported. Retail Metrics, a data company, also reported the retail industry had a 1.9 percent increase in store sales, almost 2 percent lower than expected.
The company called the low numbers "early lumps of coal in retailers' stockings," the Lost Angeles Times reported.
L Brands Inc., which owns Victoria's Secret, had a 5.5 percent sales drop, but they expected only a 1.1 percent decline. This is the first in almost five years the company estimated wrong, Reuters reports. Other retailers like Guess, Wet Seal, Urban Outfitters and Wal-Mart are expecting grim sales over the next month.
The harder profits fall, the harder retailers try to attract shoppers. Kohl's Corporation said it would keep stores open all day and night starting Dec. 20, Reuters reported. J.C. Penny had an increase in sales, but only because it offered drastic bargains, Reuters reported.
This holiday season is the shortest ever in 10 years due to the late Thanksgiving. The CEO of Cato Corp, a low priced clothing company, told Reuters sales have been flat, and they will remain so.
"We continue to expect that the remainder of the holiday shopping season and the fourth quarter will be difficult," John Cato said.
