retailers report horrible sales for February. Blame it on the expiration of the payroll tax
- 47 Replies
(Reuters) - Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) fell 2.1 percent on Friday after Bloomberg quoted a mid-level executive's email as saying the world's largest retailer had the worst sales start to any month in seven years in February.
Wal-Mart executives blamed the poor sales performance on increased payroll taxes as well as delayed tax returns, Bloomberg said.
Higher payroll taxes this year are seen as a potential problem for Wal-Mart and other discount retailers that try to attract lower-income customers who have less disposable income.
"In case you haven't seen a sales report these days, February (month-to-date) sales are a total disaster," Jerry Murray, a Wal-Mart vice president who works on finance in the U.S. logistics division, said in a February 12 email to other executives, Bloomberg reported. "The worst start to a month I have seen in my (about) 7 years with the company."
The weak February sales start came after a disappointing January, according to an email from Cameron Geiger, senior vice president of Wal-Mart U.S. Replenishment. Geiger's email was also quoted by Bloomberg. The replenishment department works on moving products from distribution centers to stores.
"Have you ever had one of those weeks where your best- prepared plans weren't good enough to accomplish everything you set out to do?" Geiger asked in a February 1 email to company executives. "Well, we just had one of those weeks here at Walmart U.S. Where are all the customers? And where's their money?"
Wal-Mart is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday and has not pre-reported any sales figures.
Analysts on average expect fourth-quarter sales at Walmart U.S. discount stores open at least a year to rise 1.7 percent, excluding gasoline sales, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Asked for a comment on the Bloomberg report, Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said in a statement: "As with any organization, we often see internal communications that are not entirely accurate, that lack the proper context and represent individual opinions."
Wal-Mart shares closed down 2.1 percent at $69.30 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
(Reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by John Wallace and Matthew Lewis)
bump.
IF retailers are reporting lower numbers (this site retailers once but then mainly talks about walmart) i don't blame it soely on the the payroll tax.
I blame it on the rising costs of everything. Gas at Christmas time was 2.98 here; it is now 3.89. Our health insurance premiums went up 62 dollars a month and our dental insurance went up 15. I am also paying more for food now than i was at the end of last year.
Quoting kngarber:
Oh, AND if Wal-Mart wasn't a bunch of asshats they'd have more customers.
That is true; but this article says walmart AND other discount retailers. so seems like walmart isn't the only one facing this problem; its other places as well.
Good for Wal-Mart. They suck anyway.
Quoting Anonymous:
Quoting kngarber:
Tax returns getting bumped back helped nothing either.
were they really bumped back. I know they didn't take them until the 30th but seems people still got them the first of feb.
I found out via text DH has TWO other babies *update
How do you prefer to wear your hair? POLL