Some Christian retailers are more ho-hum than ho-ho as they look ahead to what has traditionally been a holiday season bright spot.

Only 40% of stores plan to organize after-Christmas sales for the Dec. 26-New Year week once known as retail's "13th month," according to Christian Retailing's latest Vital Signs industry survey.

While respondents reported making an average 25% of their annual sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas, they put their after-Christmas receipts at less than 5% of yearly revenues and pointed to big discounts offered earlier in the season for the post-Dec. 25 slump.

Two out of five retailers said they did not plan to hold after-Christmas sales, while as of mid-September one in five was still undecided.

Responding to the survey prior to the big financial markets crisis in mid-September, three in five suppliers and two in five retailers said they believed there would be an economic upswing next year.

Read more in the Nov. 11 issue of Christian Retailing.

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