That’s a big difference from 2008, when retailers midrecession started holiday?sales and discounts in October to unload excess inventory. This time around, in an attempt to minimize their losses, retailers ordered more conservatively. With fewer items to sell, they can afford to keep merchandise at full price until the very last minute, and most will until the day after Thanksgiving, says Kimberly Picciola, a senior equity analyst who covers the retail sector at Morningstar.
What’s more, sales numbers right now are on the rise, so retailers have less motivation to slash prices. According to Thomson Reuters, retailers in October reported a 1.8% increase in same-store sales year over year, and nearly every sector had sales gains except for most teenage clothing retailers and department stores. Meanwhile, consumers are starting to choose more discretionary uses for their money; for the third quarter, consumers spent 31% of their spare cash on new clothes (after covering essential living expenses), up from 28% in the first quarter of 2009, according to Nielsen.
Read more here: Your Guide to Affordable Holiday Shopping