Michigan Retailers Association/Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Michigan Retail Index January 2008 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html January 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 December results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 37 (30) 46 (54) 17 (14) 47.5 (38.5) 116 (120) Inventory 20 (28) 36 (35) 44 (32) 49.0 (55.3) 116 (117) Prices 44 (45) 9 ( 8) 47 (43) 67.4 (66.6) 116 (118) Promotions 29 (38) 7 ( 6) 64 (51) 64.8 (61.7) 115 (117) Hiring 2 ( 6) 26 (15) 72 (68) 38.4 (40.2) 116 (109) 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 December results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 42 (36) 34 (36) 24 (23) 53.4 (55.5) 116 (117) Inventory 27 (22) 36 (41) 37 (30) 43.0 (42.3) 115 (114) Prices 38 (45) 6 ( 9) 56 (38) 67.4 (65.9) 116 (113) Promotions 46 (33) 5 ( 9) 49 (51) 68.8 (63.7) 115 (114) Hiring 4 ( 5) 19 (15) 77 (70) 41.5 (44.5) 116 (111) January 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 26 (22) 48 (52) 26 (26) West 43 (33) 57 (48) 0 (19) Central 33 (67) 28 (11) 39 (22) East 42 (50) 16 (17) 42 (33) Southeast 44 (49) 54 (28) 2 (23) Question of the Month What do expect your sales growth to be in 2008? Average 3.3%*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