Ho ho ho-hum

Business was brisk on the day after Christmas as retailers crossed their fingers for higher spending after disappointing sales leading up to the holiday.

A shortened shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, diminishing visitor spending and economic uncertainty tied to a government shutdown earlier this year put a damper on holiday sales, said Mark Stor­fer, board chairman for the Retail Merchants of Hawaii trade group and chief operating officer for Hilo Hattie.

"It certainly has not lived up to the expectations of retailers, that’s for sure," Stor­fer said. "What I’m hearing from my peers in the business and experiencing at Hilo Hattie is that some retailers are down, some have achieved comparable sales to last year but very few — if any — are honestly telling me that it’s a better year than last year."

The National Retail Federation, which forecast 3.9 percent growth in holiday sales, had warned that the season would remain challenging for some retailers.

That appeared to be the case as even last-minute spending couldn’t spur enough sales to reach the National Retail Federation’s prediction. Sales rose just 3.5 percent between Nov. 1 and Tuesday, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks payments but doesn’t give dollar figures.

Holiday spending can represent as much as 40 percent of a retailer’s annual revenue.

"Consumer confidence and sentiment are steadily improving, but spending remains at a modest pace," Matthew Shay, National Retail Federation president and chief executive officer, said earlier this month. "While it seems that the economy is improving, the future remains far from certain."

Retailers were shortchanged this year because there were only four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, compared with five last year.

"In the last few months we’ve seen significant increases in hotel rates and airfare, which has diminished the visitors’ discretionary spending portion of their budget," Stor­fer added.

Oahu resident Becky Jara­millo was checking after-Christmas sales at Ala Moana Center on Thursday after spending a little less this year on holiday gifts.

"I’m a federal employee who just got furloughed for six days, so I’ve got to watch out for expenses," said the 53-year-old, who lives at Alia­manu Military Reservation.

"My husband and I have agreed that this year we have to watch how much we spend. Before we never talked about that. It was just like, the sky’s the limit," she said.

Sluggish sales at brick-and-mortar stores may have benefited online retailers, who reported a surge in sales this season.

Nearly half of holiday shoppers planned to complete their shopping online, the highest percentage in more than a decade, according to a National Retail Federation survey earlier this month.

Sales on Cyber Monday, the day after the Thanksgiving weekend, jumped 18 percent to a record $1.7 billion, and 10 percent between Nov. 2 and Sunday to $38.91 billion, according to research firm comScore.

"I’ve done more online shopping this year than I’ve ever done before," said Mili­lani resident Jeff Callangan, 44, who was at Ala Moana Center on Thursday with his wife, May, and their son, Jacob, 9. "It’s easier. You don’t have to go to the mall and fight the traffic and all that goes with that. The economy’s getting better, but people are still on the sidelines. They don’t want to spend their money."

Sean Oliver, general manager at Best Buy in Iwi­lei, said the electronics retailer had double-digit increases in online sales for December.

"We saw a huge uptick in online business … as a convenience to bypass the rush or heavy traffic in the store," said Oliver, who didn’t have specific numbers yet for in-store sales. "People are being more efficient trying to maximize their time."

Still, many stores offered discounts of up to 50 percent and 75 percent on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to pull in buyers and sales before the end of the year’s biggest shopping period.

"Retailers who break even as compared to last year would be considered doing well," Stor­fer said. "E-commerce business is up but not everybody has a website, and if it’s a national retailer, it’s not always counted in their Hawaii sales."