With consumer confidence in short supply, retailers are not expecting robust holiday sales. Consequently, cautious retailers have cut hiring plans and will also cut prices, hoping to weather the anticipated slump in seasonal revenue.
Behind consumer reluctance to buy is the bad news on the domestic and international scenes: Government gridlock and shut down, a decline in domestic retail sales and the civil war and use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Normally, the period from Thanksgiving through Christmas produces a major percentage of total profits for big name retailers.
Some firms, however, will beef up personnel for the holidays, among them, Macy’s and Target.
Target reportedly will hire 70,000 seasonal workers.
Macy’s will hire 83,000 seasonal workers, an increase of 3.8% over last year’s seasonal hires of 80,000.