Retail Sales Plummet

[nickb]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025036865134309.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

[byrneseyeview]

"Retailers went from 'Ho-ho' to 'Uh-oh' to 'Oh-no.'"

I feel like he's been saving this one.

[sachinag → byrneseyeview]

Yeah, but it's a great line. (Also, Mary Delk is most likely a "she".)

[captainobvious]

Kind of nuts seeing that graph after just reading "Dear Hacker News, which 50k car should I buy" =P

[abl]

what a paradox, compared with the 'amazon - best season ever' article...

[gruseom → abl]

Nicely framed by the Fred Wilson post that's also on the front page right now:

This downturn will be marked in history as the time where many of the business models built in the industrial era finally collapsed as a result of being undermined by the information age. Its [sic] creative destruction at work.

[abl → gruseom]

Looks like everyone spins it as they like it! I'd like to see someone release some hard numbers and apples-to-apples comparisons

[timr → abl]

Amazon said that they had more orders; they didn't say what those orders were, and more notably, they didn't give estimates on revenue for the holiday season.

Amazon may end up doing well this holiday, but I wouldn't ring the death knell for traditional retailing based on a press release.

[fallentimes → timr]

Or profits. They might have had to discount heavily to attract sales at the expense of beloved profit margins.