Michigan Retail Index August 2008 results Index figures dating to July 1994 are available at www.retailers.com/news/retailindex.html August 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 July results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 32 (38) 52 (45) 16 (17) 40.0 (48.1) 150 (131) Inventory 33 (22) 36 (41) 31 (37) 44.7 (42.8) 149 (131) Prices 53 (50) 7 ( 9) 40 (41) 73.4 (71.8) 149 (130) Promotions 38 (34) 9 (10) 53 (56) 64.8 (63.8) 149 (129) Hiring 10 (10) 21 (25) 69 (65) 44.5 (42.8) 148 (127) 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 July results) % Increased % Decreased % No Change Index* Responses Sales 40 (35) 32 (39) 28 (26) 53.4 (48.5) 151 (132) Inventory 34 (21) 34 (40) 32 (39) 45.5 (39.4) 149 (132) Prices 46 (44) 5 ( 5) 49 (51) 71.4 (69.6) 150 (132) Promotions 57 (37) 2 (10) 41 (53) 73.5 (64.1) 150 (131) Hiring 12 ( 6) 14 (17) 74 (77) 47.8 (45.7) 148 (129) August 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 33 (37) 52 (41) 15 (22) West 37 (44) 46 (22) 17 (34) Central 33 (52) 54 (24) 13 (24) East 33 (56) 56 (22) 11 (22) Southeast 22 (35) 59 (38) 19 (27) Question of the Month To try to maintain sales, have you added or increased the amount of merchandise with a lower price point? Yes No 44.7% 55.3%*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