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09 February 2008
A sign of the times: Wal-Mart had a weak January because shoppers used their Xmas gift cards to buy food instead of luxury items.
It doesn't surprise me. Times are tough at the moment - the cost of food is rapidly rising, fixed-rate mortgages are coming to an end and home owners are being hit with big increases at renewal, luxuries have to be sidelined.
It seems like what really gets them is that people are spending up to the value of the card, not using the card to go toward a bigger-ticket item. I guess in the past they've counted on the idea that a $50 gift card would be redeemed by someone stretching to buy a $250 iPod. This time around people are just buying socks and groceries and stopping when they reach the limit.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
