Michigan Retail Index August 2009 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html August Performance Retailers reporting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same month a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate July results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 35 (37) 53 (47) 12 (16) 46.6 (45.0) 130 (107) Inventory 19 (17) 47 (53) 34 (30) 36.2 (29.4) 129 (107) Prices 26 (26) 11 (6) 63 (68) 57.5 (59.8) 129 (107) Promotions 33 (32) 8 (5) 59 (63) 64.6 (63.0) 129 (107) Hiring 11 (4) 11 (19) 78 (77) 50.7 (40.8) 128 (107) Outlook for Next 3 Months Retailers expecting increased, decreased or unchanged sales, inventory, prices, promotions and hiring compared to the same period a year ago (numbers in parentheses indicate July results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 43 (45) 35 (34) 22 (21) 53.5 (52.7) 130 (108) Inventory 22 (24) 39 (37) 39 (39) 41.9 (39.2) 128 (107) Prices 25 (26) 7 (6) 68 (68) 60.2 (60.1) 128 (105) Promotions 50 (40) 3 (5) 47 (55) 71.7 (64.4) 129 (106) Hiring 10 (7) 13 (15) 77 (78) 47.5 (44.2) 129 (107) August Sales Performance & Outlook for Next 3 Months, by Region (the first number indicates sales performance for the month; the number in parentheses indicates outlook for the next three months.) % Increased % Decreased % No Change North 40 (20) 47 (50) 13 (30) West 28 (59) 53 (25) 19 (16) Central 32 (63) 63 (16) 5 (21) East 23 (23) 46 (46) 31 (31) Southeast 39 (50) 57 (29) 4 (21) Question of the Month Have major newspapers' home delivery changes caused you to change your advertising strategies? Yes, a lot Yes, a little No Change 6.1% 16.8% 77.1% If you have changed, have you shifted more to: Internet Radio Television Direct Mail Billboards 56.7% 25.0% 15.0% 48.3% 6.7% (The sum is more than 100% because some companies are doing a combination of options.) *Seasonally adjusted diffusion index. A diffusion index, which is the sum of the percent of respondents indicating increase and half the percent indicating no change, is calculated and then seasonally adjusted using the U.S. Census Bureau's X-11 Seasonal Adjustment procedure. Index values above 50 generally indicate an increase in activity, while values below 50 indicate a decrease.
Contact Information: Contact: Tom Scott 517.372.5656