That's because increased e-traffic probably won't be enough to offset the slowdown in consumer spending that's already pinching some retailers. It's not going to be pretty. When spending slows, catalog companies get squeezed first. Stores such as Gap and J.C. Penney are already trying to lure back customers with discounts. CEO Howard Lester blames slower sales.
Rival retailers are likely to have a similar problem.
Beefed-up Web sites simply won't give them the ammunition to wage a price war, analysts predict. Some catalog retailers use their sites to liquidate overstocks, but few make big changes online once catalog prices have already been set. These companies have to remain consistent. In any case, slashing prices on the Net probably wouldn't be enough to counteract a sluggish holiday season. Even the catalogs using the Web most successfully do only a small portion of their business online.