Michigan Retail Index March 2008 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 28 (29) 54 (49) 18 (22) 35.6 (42.2) 114 (126) Inventory 28 (22) 32 (42) 40 (36) 44.6 (41.4) 113 (127) Prices 52 (53) 8 (9) 40 (38) 72.2 (70.3) 113 (127) Promotions 35 (32) 11 (14) 54 (54) 61.8 (60.2) 114 (127) Hiring 7 (6) 20 (22) 73 (72) 43.3 (43.2) 112 (126) 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 54 (39) 25 (33) 21 (28) 59.6 (50.0) 113 (126) Inventory 27 (28) 33 (33) 40 (39) 43.9 (41.3) 113 (126) Prices 46 (43) 4 (8) 50 (49) 67.4 (65.2) 112 (166) Promotions 44 (46) 5 (6) 51 (48) 67.7 (68.0) 111 (125) Hiring 13 (9) 13 (17) 74 (74) 47.7 (45.0) 113 (126) 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 24 (36) 44 (44) 32 (20) West 27 (50) 65 (19) 8 (31) Central 44 (78) 56 (11) 0 (11) East 21 (50) 36 (21) 43 (29) Southeast 24 (59) 63 (24) 13 (17)*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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