2009 Hot Markets -- Thawing In a Frigid Economy

Tough times will be good for No. 15 discount retail ($1.1T, +5%; with $5.2B to print, -5%), but not for the sector’s printers. Big box multi-category stores, as well as those in No. 19 ranked home improvements ($748B, +8%; with $4.9B to print, -28%), are trimming margins for traffic instead of using trimmed print. Catalogs, FSIs, couponing and other items are perceived as not working anymore. Worse, the home appliances, and furniture and fixtures ($1.2B to print, -25%) segments are falling apart with the largest number of store closings in history.