Early Easter Gives March a Boost in Sales
An early Easter bought an overflowing basket of treats for many retailers in March. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, March sales were the strongest since 1999, and the March 2010 sales beat the New York–based trade group’s forecasts for the month.
Initially forecast to increase 2.5 percent compared with the same time in the previous year, March sales grew 9 percent, said Michael Niemira, chief economist for the ICSC. Niemira credited much of the sales increase to an early Easter. (This year it fell on April 4, compared with the 2009 Easter holiday, which fell on April 12.) Due to an early holiday, many shopped for Easter in the last week of March.
“March sales posted a healthy, albeit inflated, sales increase,” Niemira said. Easter business gave an estimated boost of 4 percent to 5 percent, he said. Even without the holiday boost, sales would have been good in March. The economy has been slowly improving, and weather warmed up after a cold February, which prodded consumer demand for spring and summer clothes.
All sectors of retailers seemed to do well in March. Department stores continued their rally after an awful 2009 slump. Macy’s reported a same-store-sales increase of 10.8 percent in March. Nordstrom posted an increase of 16.8 percent. Kohl’s reported sales skyrocketing in March. Its same-store sales increased 22.5 percent, said Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman. “Increasing customer traffic remains the driver of our sales performance as we continue to focus on gaining market share,” he said in a prepared statement.
The great majority of chain specialty stores did well. Gap reported a same-store-sales increase of 3 percent. Zumiez reported a same-store-sales increase of 13.2 percent. Hot Topic even beat Wall Street forecasts of a March decline of more than 11.1 percent. Instead its same-store sales only declined 7.5 percent. Its Torrid division reported positive same-store sales of 7.5 percent.
Discount and off-price retailers reported great sales in March. Target reported a same-store-sales increase of 10.3 percent. Ross and TJX reported same-store-sales increases of 14 percent and 12 percent respectively.
For April, ICSC forecasts sales will range from flat to a decline of 3 percent.—Andrew Asch
