Michigan Retailers Association/Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Michigan Retail Index March 2007 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html March 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 February results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 43 (36) 38 (40) 15 (18) 49.0 (46.9) 146 (183) Inventory 30 (33) 20 (23) 44 (34) 47.1 (52.0) 142 (176) Prices 28 (26) 8 (10) 55 (57) 52.7 (53.5) 138 (181) Promotions 35 (24) 6 ( 6) 51 (59) 60.8 (53.8) 140 (173) Hiring 11 ( 9) 16 (12) 66 (67) 43.0 (43.6) 141 (171) 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 February results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 49 (47) 20 (19) 26 (28) 57.1 (57.7) 144 (183) Inventory 23 (29) 28 (20) 42 (42) 39.3 (44.7) 141 (177) Prices 23 (32) 9 ( 6) 57 (54) 48.9 (57.0) 135 (180) Promotions 34 (37) 8 ( 4) 44 (49) 55.2 (59.3) 131 (176) Hiring 15 (12) 13 ( 8) 62 (71) 44.0 (46.3) 137 (177) March 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 (30) 52 (26) 22 (44) West 43 (62) 27 (19) 24 (10) Central 41 (44) 44 (22) 7 (22) East 71 (86) 29 (14) 0 ( 0) Southeast 49 (49) 38 (17) 13 (31)
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