The poor earnings at companies like Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) may be getting worse. A study released by America's Research Group indicates that shoppers will wait for another cut in retail goods toward the end of the month before making more purchases. "Half of America went shopping this weekend but they weren't very serious about it," Britt Beemer, founder and chairman of the group, told Reuters.

Details from the survey indicate that shoppers are simply sitting and waiting for deeper discounts, assuming that they will have to come.

The good news is that the consumer will be back to retail outlets, big and small. This means that Americans do not feel so pinched by current economic problems that they feel they cannot afford a nice holiday.

But the bad news is that they want retailers to bring down prices again to get them back into stores, and are willing to wait late in the season to see if deals improve.

There is an old saying that companies can lose money on each item and make it up on volume. That was not true when the saying was coined and it is no truer today. Margins at retailers are about to get pushed down again.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.