Marketers look to cash in on Obama excitement

The guys hawking Barack Obama T-shirts and trinkets on the corners of downtown Washington have some new competition in the selling frenzy building up to the president-elect's inauguration Tuesday.Companies ranging from global giants like soda and snacks maker PepsiCo to a local grocery chain offering cakes with Obama's face in icing are jumping on the Obama commercial wave. Others, like the Swedish home store Ikea, are hoping consumers take Obama's mantra of "change" to heart so much that they go out and buy furniture to mark the change in the White House. It is relatively rare for corporations leery of alienating consumers with any whiff of politics to associate themselves with a political figure, according to marketing experts. But at a time when many Americans have snapped their wallets shut during a grinding recession, the groundswell of popularity that Obama has generated with his upbeat campaign themes, along with the symbolism he brings as the nation's first black president, are likely too good for many battered retailers to pass up.

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Ketchup, no pickle: Heinz changes its label

Starting next week, Heinz will start putting a single, large, vine-ripened tomato on the label of its market-leading ketchup, saying that better reflects the product's natural roots and what's inside the bottle.After more than 110 years, H.J. Heinz Co. is giving the tomato top billing on its namesake ketchup and bumping the pickle from the label of one of America's most iconic brands.
Bottles of the market-leading ketchup with the new label are shipping now and should arrive in stores next week. The image of a single, large, vine-ripened tomato is much larger than the pickle it's replacing and better reflects what's inside the bottle, said Noel Geoffrey, director of ketchup for Pittsburgh-based Heinz.Playing up ketchup's natural roots also feeds into consumers' growing desire for more wholesome, natural foods, analysts and the company said. The new label includes the tagline "Grown not made."

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Retail sales slumped 2.7 percent in December

Retail sales plunged far more than expected in December, ending a dismal holiday season with a record sixth straight monthly decline, and there's no relief in sight as consumer demand remains weak. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that retail sales dropped 2.7 percent last month, more than double the 1.2 percent decline that Wall Street expected. The December plunge in sales, which followed a November drop revised downward to 2.1 percent, confirmed private sector reports that retailers had suffered their worst holiday shopping season since at least 1969. For the entire year, retail sales were down 0.1 percent, a sharp turnaround after a 4.1 percent gain in 2007. It was the first time the annual retail sales figure has fallen on government records going back to 1992. Before 2008, the weakest year for retail sales had been an increase of 2.4 percent in 2002, the year after the 2001 recession.

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U.S. may outsip Italy in wine consumption soon

Global wine consumption, on the rise in past years, is forecast to continue to grow in the coming ones, with the United States overtaking Italy as the world's biggest consumer by 2012, according to a new report released Tuesday by the International Wine and Spirit Record. The thirst for wine is set to deepen in emerging economies such as China and Russia, whose consumption levels are soon expected to overtake that of Spain, another nation historically associated with wine, the report said.It predicted that the financial and economic crisis affecting many wine-consuming countries worldwide would only have "limited" consequences for the growth of the wine sector. The report forecast growth for the coming four years roughly in line with pre-crisis trends. Global production and consumption are both expected to rise, the report said, with production expected to grow by 3.83 percent from 2008-2012 to slightly over 3 billion 2.4-gallon (9-liter) cases.

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Dismal December sales add to retailer woes

December retail sales were so dismal that even mighty Wal-Mart fell short, making it all but certain it was the worst holiday season in four decades.The malaise cut through practically all areas, from kitchen gadget stores to apparel retailers, as shoppers, grappling with tightening credit and rising layoffs, focused on smaller purchases and the deepest discounts.Even drugstores were feeling the pain. Walgreen Co. said it will cut 1,000 jobs this year, or about 9 percent of corporate management, through a combination of voluntary buyouts and layoffs. The International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs overall tally of same-store sales dropped 1.7 percent for December. That was worse than the already reduced estimate for a 1 percent decline in sales at chain stores.It also means that same-store sales for the November-December period dropped 2.2 percent, making it the weakest holiday period since at least 1969, when the index began.

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Small retailers struggle with recession, weather

Henry Burton, owner of Fremont Place Book Co., in his Seattle store in December. Heavy snow both helped and hurt his business this holiday season.Henry Burton will never know whether the snow that blanketed Seattle during the holiday season was a blessing or a curse. The unusually heavy snowfall and cold temperatures left many Seattleites snowbound for days right around Christmas and Hanukkah. That meant Burton, owner of Fremont Place Book Co., may have lost customers who would normally have driven to his independent bookstore. But he also gained some who were left to do their holiday shopping on foot and discovered his shop, in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood, for the first time. Some of those people have since returned to his store, leaving Burton hopeful that he has gained some new regulars.In the end, Burton saw business fall by 6.5 percent for December from a year ago, although he was able to bring in enough money to pay his bills and even start the year with a bit of savings. Still, he’s not yet sure whether he’ll be writing himself a paycheck this year.

Holiday shoppers stick to spending pledge

When it comes to holiday shopping, Americans traditionally have been great at saying they were going to cut back — but not so good at actually doing it.This year appears to be an exception. Concerned about the recession, job losses and a steep drop in investment portfolios, many Americans shunned their usual shopping sprees, despite heavy discounting and promotions. Early indications point to the worst holiday season for retailers since at least 1970, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Major retailers are expected to report generally disappointing sales results for December this week.