January 28, 2010 —Marketing Daily, "Happy Days? Retail Forecast Predicts Upswing "
...Retail Forward -- a Kantar Retail Company based in Columbus, Ohio -- is somewhat more optimistic, anticipating a gain of 1.5% to 2.0% in the first half of the year, advancing to 3% to 4% in the second half, for a total gain of somewhere between 2.5% and 3% for the year.
Of course, there are plenty of caveats, Retail Forward economist Frank Badillo tells Marketing Daily. "Renewed job and income growth will ultimately outweigh other drags on the recovery, such as tighter credit availability and new credit regulation," he says. "And we've seen some real improvement in consumer confidence levels since the lows of last March. But if confidence and the overall mood of the country were to turn more negative, that could threaten the outlook."
January 8, 2010 —Marketing Daily, MediaPost News, "December Sales Stronger Than Expected"
Retail Forward's index, which looks at 32 leading chains, jumped 3% -- up from 0.9% last month, and way better than the 4.1% decline stores endured back in December 2008. But Frank Badillo, senior economist at Retail Forward, a Kantar Retail Co., tells Marketing Daily it's not time to break out the recovery noisemakers just yet.
"We expected December would be stronger, and these gains -- mostly in apparel companies -- show discretionary spending on small-ticket items is even higher than we thought it would be," he says. "But this doesn't include results from Wal-Mart Stores or home-good stores. Consumers are still being cautious, and spending will continue to be uneven across categories."
January 8, 2010 —The Washington Post, "Retailers get last-minute gift in December sales surge"
"As they gained more confidence that their household situation was going to be okay as the holiday approached, they went out and did their spending," said Frank Badillo, senior economist with consulting firm Retail Forward. According to one of the firm's surveys, fewer than one-third of consumers said their investments were worse off than last year, down from more than half of shoppers last year.
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