Patt Morrison Fri, 12/26

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Friday, December 26, 2008

1-3 p.m.

 

 

*LA Times Columnist David Lazarus Guest hosts

1:00 – 1:30

Damage Assessment: Looking Back on Bleak Holiday Sales, Forward to Recession in ‘09

Even before the traditional shopping frenzy began after Thanksgiving the nation’s retailers had turned in the worst sales figures in at least a generation, the weakest retail sales in more than 35 years.  Declines were recorded in every retail segment, with the biggest coming from department stores—perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Macy’s stayed open 24-hours a day for the final week leading up to Christmas.  Now that we’re past the retail industry’s D-Day, how bad were the final holiday sales figures; and how will stores adapt and adjust to a recession in 2009?

 

Guests:

Malachy Kavanuagh, (mal-ah-key) staff vice president of the International Council of Shopping Centers

HE CALLS US @

• The ICSC is the global trade association of the shopping center industry with 75,000 members in the U.S. and Canada.  Among other things, the ICSC provides economic analysis of the retail business and traffic patterns into shopping centers.

 

Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak

CALL HIM @

• ShopperTrak is the leading provider of shopper traffic counting information, providing retail businesses with data on retail trends, labor efficiencies, advertising and marketing effectiveness, merchandise changes and the impact of store designs.
• On Tuesday, Dec. 23^rd, ShopperTrak reported that U.S. foot traffic for the last Saturday before Christmas (Super Saturday, as it’s known in the retail business) fell a sharp 17% as compared to the same Saturday in 2007.
• Although total U.S. foot traffic significantly declined, ShopperTrak's retail sales estimate reported Super Saturday retail sales rose a slight 0.5 percent ($8.75 billion) compared to last year as consumers continued the trend of efficient shopping during this rather challenging 2008 holiday season.

 

 

 

1:30 – 2:00

VHS R.I.P.? Another Format Bites the Dust

Remember eight tracks? How about Betamax? When was the last time you saw an audio cassette tape? Many a format has come and gone. Soon it'll be official: VHS is taking its place in the history books. But are consumers ready to give up their VCRs? And what's next after DVD? Blu-Ray is coming online, but most people still find them too expensive. Scan disk/USB sticks may be the new format of choice...and then there's the future of video streaming via the Internet. Will that eventually doom all recording device rentals?

 

Guests:

Ryan Kugler [KOOG-luhr], President of Distribution Video & Audio, one of the last distributors of VHS tape, currently winding down in favor of total DVD

IN STUDIO                                        

 

David Pogue, Technology Reporter and Columnist, The New York Times

Call him @

 

• He can broaden the discussion out to other technology besides recording devise – televisions, cell phones, etc.

 

 

 

[NPR NEWS]

 

 

2:00 – 2:30

Ethnic Scams: Madoff and Affinity Fraud

Bernard Madoff, a Jewish American business man, was arrested earlier this month after allegedly bilking billions from wealthy Jews. But what Madoff did is, unfortunately, not all that unusual. It's called affinity fraud: con artists target members of an ethnic community by exploiting people's natural trust of those with similar backgrounds. Previous con-artists have gone after church groups, African-Americans and Armenians, to name a few. What's the psychology that lets these people gain the trust of otherwise intelligent and wealthy individuals to perpetrate these scams?

 

Guests:

TBD

 

 

 

2:30 – 3:00

OPEN