US Holiday 2016 Results Follow-up
A number of retailers we tracked that have provided negative holiday results after we released our holiday 2016 recap, continue to mention weak store traffic, heavy promotions across categories and sales volatility throughout the season as the common challenges. No retailer has reported positive results since our last holiday uprate note.
The additional weak holiday results for specialty retailers and big boxes—against a favorable macro backdrop and positive weather trends—further suggests a difficult 2017. For brick & mortar retailers, it implies more store closure and layoffs. While the overall results do not paint an optimistic picture for 2017, e-commerce seems to have become the growth driver for retailers across categories and certain categories still outperform.
Store Traffic, Heavy Promotions and Sales Volatility Continue to be the Common Challenges
Source: Company reports
