September 2010: American retailers are cutting expenses to maintain stable profits through what is increasingly looking like another challenging holiday season. Approaching the 2010 holiday season, stores are looking for ways to maintain profit margins. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 3.6 percent gain in second-quarter earnings on August 17, 2010 and raised its annual profit forecast, despite notching negative sales at U.S. stores open at least a year for the fifth consecutive quarter. Home Depot Inc. reported a 6.8 percent quarterly profit jump despite a moderate same-store sales boost of 1.7 percent, and also raised its full-year profit forecast, even as it lowered annual revenue projections. How can you increase earnings with tighter revenue? By reducing costs. Wal-Mart is cutting advertising budgets and resuming its traditional “every day low prices” strategy after aggressive temporary “rollback” price cuts failed to stimulate new sales. The top retail chains are adapting to the prolonged economic slowdown by reducing employee work hours, maintaining thin inventories, and squeezing costs out of supply chains. Although retail executives have been planning conservatively for months, many had expected the economy to show signs of improvement by this point. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. plans to close 60 of its 1,098 stores this year and 50 next year. The teen retailer reported a 5 percent jump in quarterly same-store sales, but noted that average prices fell 15 percent as stores wage price wars to wrest a bigger share of back-to-school budgets. Urban Outfitters Inc., the apparel company for twenty-somethings that also operates Anthropologie and Free People, voiced similar cautions. Saks Inc. said Tuesday it was closing luxury department stores in Plano, Texas, and Mission Viejo, California, after reporting a quarterly loss of $32.2 million.

Why don’t the stores raise prices to increase revenue?