Word: liebmann
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...what's the takeaway from this data? First, some recession fatigue has set in. "People have done an awful lot of cutting back in the last 18 months," says Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail. "There's not much more they can do. They've figured that it's not the end of the world here, and there are places where you can open up your wallets." She points to another stat: 1 in 4 of the shoppers WSL surveyed said they were "tired of watching every little penny and are ready to break out a little...
...Liebmann is quick to stress that her data and stories like Calleja's don't predict a recovery. "It's just a lesser negative," she says. Job anxiety remains a powerful brake on consumer spending. Unemployment is high - 8.6% - and the WSL respondents are worried: last year, 20% said they were concerned that they or someone in their family might lose a job. This year, that figure jumped to 35%. That fear keeps cash in the pocketbooks; for the first time in a decade, the personal savings rate has been above 4% for three straight months...
...Given all that, what do WSL's consumer psyche measures say about the fate of the recession? "We see it more as the end of the beginning," says Liebmann. "There's a very big cloud still over the consumer. We've been through the first phase, and we hope the worst has happened. Shoppers are feeling a little bit chipper, but there's still more to go." Sure, additional economic tumult may be coming. But at least we can enjoy a little calm...
...upscale sellers, they are redeveloping the middle market, a segment once thought lost forever in the crush between the high and low end. "Both JCPenney and Kohl's have come to understand what their shoppers expect: great prices every day, ease of shopping and an exciting store," says Wendy Liebmann, founder of WSL Strategic Retail, a consultancy that publishes quarterly surveys on how Americans shop. "They're working hard to address the needs of the core, Middle America shopper...
...that probably have an average age of around 50," says James Chung of Reach Advisors, a Boston-based market-research firm. Indeed, the fashion community seems nervous about anything that is even remotely close to 50. "It makes you less fashionable, less sexy, if you talk about 50," adds Liebmann. "A 50-year-old sees herself as being as good...