Michigan Retail Index September 2008 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html September 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 August results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 28 (32) 59 (52) 13 (16) 40.7 (40.0) 124 (150) Inventory 28 (33) 41 (36) 31 (31) 42.8 (44.7) 123 (149) Prices 47 (53) 10 ( 7) 43 (40) 69.6 (73.4) 123 (149) Promotions 34 (38) 14 ( 9) 52 (53) 60.9 (64.8) 123 (149) Hiring 6 (10) 26 (21) 68 (69) 41.1 (44.5) 121 (148) 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 August results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 37 (40) 45 (32) 18 (28) 46.3 (53.4) 124 (151) Inventory 22 (34) 44 (34) 34 (32) 40.8 (45.5) 123 (149) Prices 47 (46) 10 ( 5) 43 (49) 70.2 (71.4) 122 (150) Promotions 52 (57) 10 ( 2) 38 (41) 69.3 (73.5) 123 (150) Hiring 10 (12) 18 (14) 72 (74) 45.7 (47.8) 120 (148) September 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 15 (11) 74 (81) 11 ( 8) West 25 (35) 57 (34) 18 (31) Central 35 (53) 47 (29) 18 (18) East 33 (34) 50 (58) 17 ( 8) Southeast 36 (53) 58 (30) 6 (17) Question of the Month What is your current expectation for your percentage sales growth or decline over last year for the holiday season? Average - 1.2%*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