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Spot The "Blockbuster" Retail Season

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/10/2013 20:49 -0400

In the chart below, the blue bar is Toys 'R' Us retail sales for 2011. Red is 2012. Hence our confusion: just which is this "blockbuster" retail season CNBC's Bob Pisani keeps referring to - the blue or the red?

Oh, and yes, the reason for the collapse in peak Holiday shopping demand, both in the US and around the world, at least according to the company that has been waiting to go public for nearly three years: "December sales were impacted by softness in the overall markets for videogames, electronics and toys, and by the uncertain economic environment in the United States and abroad." That's right: "softness for toys."

Too bad there was no hurricane in December, and that there is no way anyone could blame Bush for anything after Obama won his reelection in November.

But at least, it's always something.

Source: 2011, 2012

- advertisements -

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:53 | 3142907 knukles

Pisain confused?
Bob, which pill'd you take?

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:15 | 3142962 Supernova Born

I don't wanna grow up I'm a CNBS kid

there's a million tales of BS at CNBS that I get played with

from stocks, their shills to HFT thrills

I just wanna be a CNBS kid

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:07 | 3143095 tickhound

Giving Pisani the benefit of the doubt means always ASSUMING the consumer HAS the money, just didn't spend it for some reason.

Assuming this is true, why on earth then would the consumer not spend on this 4 month's "generation" of new games, gadgets, and devices?

If you ask this consumer (I'm a poor example although probably a better one than many of you hermits) I see little return for this go'rounds upgrades and game 'versions.'

ASSUMING again the short cycle of upgrades is now too redundant... Using the 'Nintendo model' we can predict that entire new platforms are coming relatively soon... 'Requiring' NEW purchases to play or perform.

So I'm holding out for the NEXT Xbox, is what I'm sayin'

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:12 | 3143298 ACP

Red or blue cuz o' blood, it just don't matter, suckuhs dive fo' ya life when my QE scatter...

The Gangs of Wall Street will never die...just multiply...

...colors!

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 01:00 | 3143453 The Juggernaut

Oh retail you leading indicator, you.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 01:10 | 3143462 wee-weed up

CNBC has been a 200% Obama toady network since before Obama's first immaculation.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:04 | 3143139 EnglishMajor

Maybe the children were naughtier this year.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 00:04 | 3143385 jeff montanye

it is too early for fourth quarter coal consumption but that may give us some idea.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:12 | 3143160 bobthehorse

Pisani is a tool.

But he's just doing his job.

CNBC is a cheerleading squad designed to support Wall Street.

They want people to buy stocks.

Plain and simple.

http://angrysinner.blogspot.kr/2013/01/yesterday-dragon-lady-served-beef-and_10.html

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:20 | 3143177 RockyRacoon

Why do we have featured articles about Santelli and Jim Grant on the front page of ZH?

Huh? Why? Huh?

Apparently there is some redeeming value to be found there. Even serial killers are kind to their mothers I suppose.

Oh, Maria!

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:54 | 3143259 Cursive

@Rocky Racoon

Damn, those are some saggy bags she's wearing! Also, love the headlights. Can someone in the green room get a set of band-aids, please? Maybe when I was 16, but I'm too old to get a hard on for that trash now.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 09:30 | 3143846 azzhatter

Just look at who advertises on CNBC and follow the money. It's an all day long infomercial with an occasional trip off the reservation by Santelli and a guest here and there to give the appearance of unbiased reporting

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 02:34 | 3143523 slaughterer

"Softness for toys"--from toys to iPhone/iPad ain't much difference.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 10:05 | 3143924 sessinpo

They don't take the pill, they are part of the pill.

It's about time people wake up to that, we are beyond red pill blue pill.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:55 | 3142915 Bunga Bunga

He refers to gun sales. What else do you thought?

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:57 | 3142922 LongSoupLine

The only blockbuster piss-on-me knows is the giant CoNcast one shoved up his shill fucking ass.

Fuck you CNBC, fucking hacks.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:07 | 3142961 kliguy38

CONcast........+1

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:19 | 3143180 Freddie

+1 All TV and All of Hollywood are scum. They want you disarm and are puppets for the mullah's regime. You watch it then you support it.

As far as Toys R Us. It is all cheap plastic crap from China that breaks the second a kid touches the junk toy. I don't like Bezos and Amazon but this where lots of people shot versus Toys R US.

This Christmas was terrible because the islamic's depression is getting worse.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:58 | 3142927 ClassicCommodity

How do these people lie so well on TV? Their smiles covering the charade so well.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:05 | 3142956 JohnnyBriefcase

Have you ever met one of them? How do you even know that they are real people?

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:11 | 3142971 Tsar Pointless

Put on the sunglasses, Nada. You will see that while, indeed, they live, they are not real people.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:11 | 3142970 kliguy38

Very carefully chosen and very well paid....Kiernan is paid over 2Mil/year to show up and spew BS........Becky Quicky probably similar....when you get to eve news Brian Williams is well over 18mil/yr.........you do just what your told or you get Dan Rathered.........hehehhehe......after 20years of that big money they start to get tooo independent like Rather had become........poof! you're gone

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:53 | 3143240 CheapBastard

American Express to cut 5,400 jobs, take charges in fourth quarter

(Reuters) - Credit card company American Express Co said it would cut about 5,400 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its workforce, as it restructures its business and pay legal bills.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/11/us-americanexpress-jobcuts-idU...

Boeing to cut 40 percent jobs at El Paso plant

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-cut-40-percent-jobs-222540379.html

I am not expecting much purchasing --- retails, cars, houses, etc -- from these poor folks in the near future.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 09:31 | 3143848 flattrader

I prefer Mom and Pop hardware stores, but occasionally I go to a Big Box. I go at odd hours to avoid the contractor and weekend warrior crowd when I go.

2nd to last trip I could have opened fire in all four directions and not hit anybody.

Last trip the same thing...only all "human" cashiers had been removed from the store.

They were trying to force us to use "self check-out." I refused and demanded that a "human" ring up my sale. The only two humans aside from the "self-checkout" herdman was a guy at the service desk and the gal at returns desk. I waited until the woman was free. She told me all of the cashiers hours had been severely cut back due to no business...and yeah, the were trying to force customers to use "self-checkout."

She appreciated my refusal to let the "machines" take over.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:58 | 3142931 nmewn

Ain't touchin it...whenever Pom Pom Bob and soft toys get together there can only be one outcum.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 20:58 | 3142932 pragmatic hobo

must be "better than expected"

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:05 | 3142950 Bunga Bunga

And how could CNBC forget the "blockbuster" sales in Europe?

New car sales December (YoY):

Germany -16.4%

France -14.6%

Spain -23%

Italy -22.5%

Portugal -43.6%

Greece -33.7%

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:34 | 3143036 Dr. Engali

Bullish. Good for another 2% on the DAX.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 09:32 | 3143850 azzhatter

Okay, let's print her up

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:06 | 3142957 Mr Pink

Doesn't Toys R Us accept EBT?

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:09 | 3143153 gould's fisker

Correct, according to the Solis rule more people must become unemployed before sales improve and jobs can be created.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:06 | 3142958 Taint Boil

Toys R Us ….. ROFL waaaaay overpriced, I bought the same exact things on Amazon that they had for 20 bucks less and no sales tax and was delivered for “free”.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:56 | 3143028 Dr. Engali

We bought just about everything from Amazon for Christmas, I'm sure a healthy portion of the nation did and they still couldn't make any money.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:14 | 3143135 earleflorida

eventually they'll be a virual 'walmart'... dictating too vendors/ merchants what their margins are, and how they must be met-- it will parallel 'walmart's business model' to the 'T'... if they want their wares/ goods moved, but they won't strong arm anyone as did the walton's!

i remember the clinton's , especially hillary going south of the border setting up the mexican banking cartel for walmart's 'Nafta' via slick willy.

once walmart got into mexico they implicitly told every fucking manufacturer in america to cut prices or file for bankruptcy! this wasn't a threat because walmart had china all set up to give america's labor a size '16' 'kick-n-the-ass', literally and figuratively by 'extorting & coercion' for sending all manufacturing jobs [kinda like i had to it or else BS?]to china. home depot [ge], lowe's, briggs& stratton, black & decker et.el., etc., etc., etc.,... had their balls cut off.

thankyou clinton, especially hillary!

Ps. it is important to understand the difference between walmart and amazon-- amazon creates jobs in america and jeff bezos is a fine man, that pays a fair wage and good benny's. please be well advised that it is very important that, 'we', differentiate the stark differences/contrast. walmart fucks the working man/ amazon treats the working man like a person, period

fuck the walton's and fuck the clinton's!!! PigWhores are they!

jmo

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:59 | 3143271 Oleander

Target will now match any price on Amazon. I guess they want to lose money too.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:41 | 3143064 earleflorida

chatting with a 'ups' delivery guy the other day... and, i ask'd him what percentage of deliveries were from 'amazon'; answer ~ 75-80%.

what he told me without even in getting a chance for my next question... as if he read my mind, was that their-- 'automated systematic delivery system' was so efficient there were never any mistakes in parcel delivery.

they were fantastic in his own words!

from the drone to the consumer... jmo

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:10 | 3142967 Lost Wages

Kids don't need toys anymore. They have apps.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:50 | 3143087 sunaJ

True dat. iCrap for the nieces and nephews in my sheeple family (not given by me, I assure you). The youngest one to get an iPad mini is 6-years-old.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:44 | 3143355 FreedomCostsaBu...

Crap. Why not just lobotomize him now? SIX year olds with iPads!

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:12 | 3142973 SmoothCoolSmoke

CNBC: Ramora fish for the Vampire Squid.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:19 | 3142987 Jason T

Did toy shopping at the dollar store.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:39 | 3143056 Cursive

@Jason T

Did you see the earnings warning from FDO?

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:09 | 3143152 Jason T

That $1 wrapping paper was a steal.. book with a CD in it, $1! not much margins in that I assume.

I wouild never touch the food in those stores...

I'll looking for deflation

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:37 | 3143335 Oleander

I could not believe the cooler of food at Family Dollar. Thats how they get SNAP money.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:20 | 3142988 Racer

Toys and xmas are soooo passé we gave a new SNAP card to our youngest that will be of much more use for pole dancers and booze

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:22 | 3142996 Spastica Rex

Blockbuster's been gone for years. Fail.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:28 | 3143015 Dr. Engali

Toys r us will be joining them soon.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:43 | 3143070 pods

And Best Buy.

pods

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:59 | 3143123 nmewn

You knew they were done when they started selling washing machines...lol.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 09:49 | 3143888 pods

We had a conversation about BB when Circuit City croaked and BB stock soared. Everyone was talking about how BB won and they vanquished a competitor.

Me and a guy looked at each other and thought:
What does BB sell?

Same shit as Circuit City.

Only a matter to time. BB is trying with their "service" and bundled crap on computers, which I will never again get from there. Like trying to get rid of bed bugs all that crap is.

I actually needed something once, an eSata to USB cable when my eSata port died on my pc. Searched BB and even asked at the desk.

Tiger Direct, 5 minutes and done.

pods

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:24 | 3143003 orangegeek

This is all very normal. Intentionally lying about facts and figures to manipulate social mood is typical for a market near its top (recall 2007 and how we were heading to even greater prosperity?)

Markets are about to collapse. Barry and Ben racked up debt to buy the market to get re-elected.

http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/sp500-daily-heads-higher-stronger-volume/

SP500 keeps pushing higher on nothing but fumes. Alcoa reports positively (bs) and Amex reports positively (firing 5400 is bullish). Seems many companies are reporting early or "preliminary reporting" - not too tough to figure out - 2013 is going to be a rough year.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:26 | 3143009 DaveyJones

giraffe bias

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:27 | 3143011 ArkansasAngie

But ... but ... everything is great. Isn't it.

Can't have the sheeple figuring out they are being screwed.

I be tired of listening to their lies.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:30 | 3143019 Dr. Engali

Maybe they should try a little honesty in their answers..... Nobody has any fucking money!

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:14 | 3143164 gould's fisker

Shush, nobody is supposed to know, it would be bad for the economy if people don't have money--we have to give the people hope-iness so the economy can be juiced up into recovery.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:42 | 3143065 Seasmoke

Bring back the Cabbage Patch Kids in 2013

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:51 | 3143089 adr

They already did. You can buy a 1983 re-release Cabbage Patch doll. My wife wants the one she had as a kid. Looked at the price $69. Sorry hun. I'll put a yarn wig on a potato, be happy.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:47 | 3143079 buzzsaw99

brick and mortar is dying

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:55 | 3143102 Cursive

@buzzsaw99

Too much retail space per person and yet the commercial REITs seem to have a permabid.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:59 | 3143126 buzzsaw99

it's all fun and games until someone loses their lunch money

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:50 | 3143085 azengrcat

Maybe he meant it was a real Cockbuster

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 21:54 | 3143098 Cursive

And then there's this....

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/01/pc-sales-drop-in-fourth-quarter-of-2012-for-the-first-time-in-five-years/

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:01 | 3143133 nmewn

Saturation.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:00 | 3143128 adr

Yay, lets all buy counterfeit and black market goods from the 3800 P/E Amazon, that will show'em.

Anyone else wonder how Amazon can sell under the wholesale price of vendors? I always did because my company surely didn't sell Amazon our products. The international division didn't either. Turned out Amazon bought fakes from China and sold them using our logo and marketing information from our website. Not only did they sell them for 75% less than our MSRP, they sold them $4 less than the wholesale price we give to Walmart. We're suing Amazon and haven't got anywhere.

You want to know how that conversation went with Walmart? Hint, not good. When a buyer who buys $6 million in inventory from you says, "Why is your product on Amazon for less than the price you give us?" The next words out your mouth need to be really good.

Fuck Bezos, Amazon and anyone who supports that bullshit black market dealer.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:19 | 3143182 hooligan2009

another toys r us outlet...the country of japan has just release this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20981874

the odd $116bn, for a $5.7 trillion economy..yawn..one fifth the size of the feds latest $540 billion for an economy one third the size...

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:22 | 3143192 cnhedge2

they blamed softness in the economy?

http://www.cnhedge.com/

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:37 | 3143217 Honest_Money

Toys 'R' Not Selling

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:52 | 3143250 Joseph Jones

I have Endicia/3rd party USPS shipping account. Just got notice: "Significant increases in rates."

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:54 | 3143254 sgorem

Bob "Pissant" Pissonme still walking and talking with that green shoot up his ass........fucking shill. and knows it.

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 22:55 | 3143260 StoleYourMoney

Bob Pisani is a fucking JOKE!

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:14 | 3143304 nflux

If January numbers disappoint it'll be due to the flu 'epedemic'

Thu, 01/10/2013 - 23:45 | 3143359 trillionaire

Toy sales (actually, all sales) are down because everyone was buying guns and ammunition. Go to any website selling AR-15 parts, AR, or AK ammo and you will find nothing but "sold out" or prices that are 3x the norm.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 00:43 | 3143432 HardlyZero

The upturn in gun sales was due to Hurricane Sandy, not only in the effected area, but worldwide, since everyone felt an empathy to defend themselves agains the looters...from Sandy. In fact the lack of holiday sales worldwide was also due to Hurricane Sandy...everyone was so depressed around the world they stopped buying.

Hurricane Sandy...the ulitimate cause of the economic collapse. We can also see Sandy has effected Bloomberg and the Son of Cuomo. /sarc

Sat, 01/12/2013 - 18:44 | 3147655 trillionaire

The building reached max capicty at a local show today, people had to wait outside for others to leave. I guess everyone is buying guns and ammo and sending them to families and loved ones in the Hurricane Sandy states. FFLs and shippers must be making a fortune.

Fri, 01/11/2013 - 00:19 | 3143407 ptoemmes