美国消费季 消费者火力全开

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. With it comes the official start of the frantic shopping season running up to Christmas and the New Year. Many US retailers are already luring shoppers with attractive deals.

The signs are up, the decorations are out- and the goods are ready for consumers to shop on Thanksgiving Day.

Retailers from big shopping mall have kicked off their sales especially with consumer goods such as TVs, video games and clothes.

"We have a lot of hot items this year. I’ll give you some examples: we have a 32-inch TV for $98. We have a 16-GB iPad for $299 and it also comes with a $100 gift card. We have a 60-inch Vizio TV for $688." Fernando Reyes, Manager of Wal-Mart said.

Data shows that 13 percent of the US consumers are willing to spend more in the coming holiday season than in the previous year, while those who would spend less declined to 32 percent.

Despite the shopping frenzy, real store retailers need to compete with on-line retailers.

Analysts foresee the battle for the holiday shopper’s wallet will be fierce.

"Getting people into the stores matters, particularly when you have competition from online and other competitors and things like electronics. It’s very difficult and Wal-Mart is going to have to be as aggressive as ever to do that this holiday season." Ken Perkins, Equity Analyst, Morningstar said.

Data shows that the holiday season can account for up to around 20 to 40 percent of a retailer’s annual sales, which is nearly 20 percent of the total industry annual sales in the US.

Analysts say we are likely to see many more price cuts at the cashier desk even ahead of the holiday.