Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Target Lowers Same Store Sales Guidance

From CNBC:

Discount retailer Target warned on Monday that September sales at stores open at least a year would be well below its prior forecast due to weak customer traffic, particularly in Florida and the U.S. Northeast.

..........

On a recorded message, Target said it expects same-store sales to rise between 1.5% and 2.5% for the five weeks ending Oct. 6.

Earlier this month, the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer after Wal-Mart, forecast September same-store sales would rise 4% to 6%.


Last month we saw a big increase in retail sales which was attributed to back-to-school numbers. It looks as though there won't be much follow-through from that momentum.

Notice that Target greatly reduced it's same store guidance from 4%-6% to 1.5% to 2.5%. That's a drop of one half. That means consumer foot traffic stinks and dropped off in a big way from the back to school momentum.