Gift cards delay Wal-Mart sales
CHICAGO (Reuters) -- The world's biggest company, Wal-Mart Stores, has given a chillier outlook for December as more people delay holiday shopping or opt for gift cards that do not immediately count toward retailers' revenues.
Wal-Mart said Monday it now expects to reach only the lower end of its December forecast for a 3 to 5 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year -- a key retail measure known as same-store sales.
December is the biggest shopping month of the year. Last year, Wal-Mart slashed its December same-store sales forecast because of weak demand, and recorded only a 2.3 percent gain.
On a recorded message updating sales through December 12, Wal-Mart said the best-selling categories included food, pharmaceuticals, toys, infants' merchandise, girls' apparel and paint. The number of shoppers declined from a year ago.
Wal-Mart said people were buying "closer to need," and gift cards were popular, continuing a trend seen in recent years. Retailers do not record revenues from gift cards until they are redeemed.
Wal-Mart made no mention of weekend snow storms that hit parts of the U.S. Northeast, but said the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions were the strongest.
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