Michigan Retail Index November 2008 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html November 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 October results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 23 (29) 65 (58) 12 (13) 28.8 (34.9) 169 (162) Inventory 23 (29) 41 (40) 36 (31) 40.1 (40.9) 168 (161) Prices 38 (41) 16 (13) 46 (46) 61.5 (63.1) 166 (162) Promotions 48 (33) 11 (10) 41 (57) 68.5 (58.7) 168 (162) Hiring 2 (6) 29 (29) 69 (65) 36.7 (37.5) 166 (161) 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 October results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 17 (33) 58 (42) 25 (25) 34.1 (45.1) 167 (163) Inventory 8 (20) 61 (48) 31 (32) 30.8 (40.4) 167 (164) Prices 32 (34) 20 (11) 48 (55) 54.5 (59.6) 166 (164) Promotions 41 (48) 14 (9) 45 (43) 70.3 (65.1) 166 (162) Hiring 2 (5) 28 (24) 70 (71) 40.2 (40.5) 168 (164) November 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 21 (12) 67 (66) 12 (22) West 28 (24) 59 (52) 13 (24) Central 35 (7) 62 (65) 3 (28) East 11 (5) 72 (67) 17 (28) Southeast 17 (28) 65 (46) 18 (26) Question of the Month Relative to last year, how are your margins on holiday merchandise? Larger Smaller Same 5.0% 52.2% 42.8% *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.
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