Holiday shopping kick-off still weak: report

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By Martinne Geller

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steep declines in sales of major specialty retail categories including apparel, electronics and furniture extended into December, according to data released on Sunday by SpendingPulse.

But some of the declines stayed in a tight range, which could be a sign that those declines could start to level off, said Michael McNamara, SpendingPulse's vice president.

"Before things get better they have to stop getting worse," McNamara said in an interview. "These ranges seem to indicate that perhaps things have stopped getting worse."

So far this year's holiday retail sales are shaping up to be the weakest since the early 1990s as consumers are cutting back in the face of a worldwide economic slowdown.

Retailers from J.C. Penney Co Inc and Abercrombie & Fitch Co to Saks Inc and Williams-Sonoma Inc have posted double-digit declines as U.S. consumers tighten their wallets and focus on necessities.

Since Black Friday kicked off the critical holiday shopping season on November 28, sales at specialty apparel retailers are down 22.9 percent from a year earlier through December 6, according to SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Inc's MasterCard Advisors unit.

That is slightly worse than the 19.5 percent decline seen in the period that began November 1, SpendingPulse said.

Sales declines for men's clothes accelerated toward the end of November, while the decline in women's clothing sales remained the same, said SpendingPulse, which tracks sales in the MasterCard payments network and couples it with estimates for all other payment forms.

At specialty electronics retailers, which include Best Buy Co Inc and Circuit City Stores Inc, sales fell 24.9 percent in the period from November 1 to December 6. In the more recent period that started after Black Friday, sales fell 22.3 percent, which suggested to McNamara that electronics' sales declines may be settling.

The year-end holiday shopping period is critical for U.S. retailers, which can ring in up to 40 percent of their annual revenue between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Specialty chains that sell furniture saw sales fall 23.5 percent from November 1 though December 6, with the decline moderating slightly to 23 percent in the period since Black Friday, which McNamara said indicates the more recent momentum.

Luxury sales, which for SpendingPulse include high-end leather goods, department stores and restaurants, fell 27.8 percent in the five week period ending December 6. But in the days following the Black Friday kick-off, that decline accelerated to 34.5 percent, SpendingPulse said.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Derek Caney)

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