Author: Helen Thomas

Back to School sales helped raise retail sales by .3% over the previous week and 2.5% over one year ago, following a four-week decline in June into July. Expectations are that Back to School sales will rise another 2.5% from July through September, which will be a successful repeat of the 2015 season.

Discounters and wholesale clubs were the strongest contributors to the rise in sales last week, with focus on electronics, clothing, shoes and books. Back to School season is highly promotional as retailers clear inventory for the upcoming holiday season. The National Retail Federation expects total spending to reach $75.8 billion, up from $68 billion in 2015. 60.5% of consumers plan to shop in discount stores, followed by 59.6% shopping in department stores. This rising trend over 2015 is significant, as 2015 was a drop from 2014’s splurge year by consumers in the Back to School/Back to College season.

Source: WWD.com, NRF

Today’s $80 billion US beauty market will continue to grow according to a report by Euromonitor International. This growth rate will mean the beauty market will grow by 45% in 10 years. In 2015, the premium beauty category grew 7%, with premium foundation sales increasing 14.2%, compared to just 3% the prior year. Consumers have been shifting to premium products, looking for high quality products. Many luxury beauty brands who use Accelerated Analytics POS reporting to optimize inventory levels, track promotions and drive sales are in the news with big headlines this week, such as Parlux Fragrances, Shiseido, Inter Parfums, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Coty and L’Oreal. Click Here to learn more about our solutions for beauty brands.

Department stores and general merchandise stores helped June have a strong increase in retail sales. Department stores rose .7% to $13.2 billion and general merchandise stores rose .4% to $56.1 billion. Overall, retail sales rose .6% in June, to $457 billion, above economists’ expectations for the month.

“June’s retail sales grew at a solid pace on the heels of a strong showing for both May and April,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation. “Consumer spending has rebounded strongly in the second quarter after two weak previous quarters. Additional job gains and rising wages are supporting the strength in retail sales and should provide momentum going into the second half of 2016.”

Apparel and accessories stores had a slight decline of a 1% drop in sales to $21.1 billion. Those clothing stores did have a strong May.

Economists are optimistic for a continued strong second half of the year, and expect back to school sales growth slightly higher than was seen last year.

Source: WWD.COM

After the housing crash of 2006, the US home remodeling market saw its worst downturn in history. Growth in home improvement spending has grown on average about 4.9% since then. Now, with home equity back and home prices on the rise, people are putting their cash to work to remodel and repair their homes.

Growth is expected to reach 8% by the start of 2017 and annual spending should reach an estimated $321 billion by the middle of next year, according to a new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing. Kitchen and bath remodels are popular, along with high-yielding investments such as replacing insulation. Many are choosing to do multi-room remodels at the same time, up 67% from a year ago.

Growth in home remodeling is sure to boost sales for retailers such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s and Sherwin Williams.

Vendors who want better insights into their sales and inventory at their DIY retailers can CLICK HERE to learn more about our POS reporting solutions.

Source: CNBC

The 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Retail Brands of the Year study results were announced, with several retailers getting high points for engaging customers. For the fourth straight year, 2 brands took top honors in their segment categories: The Home Depot for hardware and home brand of the year, and Kohls.com as online department store of the year.

Other top winners included Macy’s as department store of the year, Nordstrom as luxury department store of the year, TJ Maxx as off-price retailer of the year, Best Buy as electronics store of the year, DSW shoes as discount shoe store of the year and Cabela’s as sporting goods store of the year.

Within retail, hardware and home store was the top ranked category, with baby boomers and GenX shoppers driving that, investing in home improvements and moving up from starter homes.

Over 97,000 US consumers rated more than 200 retail brands for the survey. The scores take into account familiarity, quality and purchase consideration.

Source: Chain Store Age

As you look around your local restaurants, convenience stores and retailers, do you see people hard focused on their phones, and looking for something at that establishment you cannot see? Most likely these are users of the new, very popular, Pokemon Go app, getting explorers to go out into the real world with their avatars.

The game is so popular that it has already doubled the engagement of Snapchat and is beating Twitter in its percentage of daily active users. People are spending hours at a time traveling around looking for Pokemon.

Since the game maps out locations where players can find Pokemon, gather rewards at Poke Stops and battle each other at Gyms, retailers can take advantage of this major bump in foot traffic and convert gamers into shoppers. Retailers can pull up the map and find the Pokemon location closest to them. Smaller retailers can purchase “lures” on the app to increase the number of Pokemon that are virtually around their physical location. Larger retailers can determine if a Gym is nearby, and advertise incentives or give away Pokemon badges with their custom logo or business name.

While the game is not promoting specific retail sales, retailers should take advantage of the relevant, social aspect of the game to draw in traffic. The game’s developer is overwhelmed by requests from businesses who want to be included in the game – and will be announcing soon sponsored locations opportunities. Reports are out that Pokemon are hanging out in top retail brand stores including Macy’s, American Apparel, Sephora and H&M and lots of malls.

Source: Forbes, Retail Customer Experience, NCS

High income shoppers in the U.S. have had their confidence shaken in recent months. Between Britain’s vote to leave the E.U. and economic uncertainty in China, coupled with global stock market and currency swings, luxury brands are suffering.

China is attempting to drive down conspicuous consumption amid a slowing economy, and Chinese tourism growth has ground to halt around the world, meaning fewer visits to U.S. Department stores such as Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s. Luxury retailers have every reason to be concerned.

A slowdown in the U.S., the world’s biggest luxury market could send luxury sellers into a tailspin. Big spenders in the U.S. are holding back due to economic uncertainty at home and abroad. Over the past three years, Americans have contributed significantly to the growth of luxury goods, second only to the Chinese. But for now, both are pulling back. And, some luxury brands are concerned that the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming U.S. election will dampen the market further.

With the U.S. stumbling, there are few other places for luxury sellers to find growth. With the pound’s weakness against the U.S. dollar and the euro, it’s possible that Britain could offer an opportunity. But the U.K. represents just 6 percent of the global luxury market so the opportunity is relatively small.

Some brands, like Accelerated Analytics’ customer LVMH, are weathering the storm due to their diverse set of businesses. And, affordable luxury brands, such as Kate Sade and Stuart Weitzman, may benefit from shoppers trading down to more affordable luxury brands.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

School just got out, and everyone is gearing up for the big Independence Day summer holiday. But retailers are already thinking about Back to School, wanting to clear out summer inventory to make way for Back to School sales that will start right after July 4. So where will the biggest savings be, and on what products?

The best deals will be on summer items such as swim and beach wear. Also, as trendy teen and youth apparel sales have suffered in the past few months, these retailers are offering extreme deals for the 4^th of July. The holiday is expected to shatter travel records due to lower gas prices. Also, as consumers spend more on experiences than on merchandise, retailers are promoting items shoppers need to have those road trips and experiences. The holiday weekend will be a great opportunity to stock up on active wear, camping gear and outdoor gear.

Wait until Back to School sales, after the holiday, for denim and electronics, when these items will have deeper discounts. Popular beauty products are not expected to be discounted, as this category is doing well and are high-margin goods for the retailers.

Source: Forbes.com 

With new technologies hitting the market on a regular basis, the retail industry is constantly evolving. Most retailers now operate in a technologically sophisticated omnichannel environment that includes strategies to enhance selling, including online, mobile retail and social media marketing.

In a 2015 retail industry survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, findings revealed that technology is making it more difficult for retailers to prevent, detect and manage loss.

“At the core of omnichannel is the concept that a customer can securely purchase and receive their product in any manner they desire,” Zawoyski says. “For many retailers with legacy pre-omnichannel operations and systems, ensuring secure and dynamic customer purchasing and fulfillment is a significant challenge. Beyond the well-documented data breaches and information security risks, many retailers struggle with ensuring supply chain inventory accuracy.”

According to the PwC report, many companies haven’t fully integrated new technologies that are needed to combat loss in omnichannel effectively. One key recommendation for the report: Retailers should embrace the process of root cause analysis while increasing their use of data analytics to better spot and mitigate shrink. Zawoyski says 59 percent of respondents reported they are employing data analytics and end-to-end root cause analysis as a primary tool to identify losses.

One of the many strategies that PwC suggests to enhance root cause analysis is to leverage data analytics.

“Effectively leveraging advanced analytics and end-to-end root cause analysis allows retailers to assess, strategize, plan and deploy risk mitigation programs,” says Zawoyski.

Sources: National Retail Federation: STORES magazine, June 2016, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Retail giant Macy’s is set to debut a new store design at its remodeled location in Easton Town Center in Columbus, OH later this month. According to a report by The Columbus Dispatch, construction began on March 27th – with work taking place as the store stayed open – and the new store design prototype will be introduced on June 25th.

Everything from the lights to the flooring, fixtures and merchandise itself will be new. The model features “lifestyle” departments and leased businesses, a concept that recently gained attention when JC Penney tried it. For example, the new Restore, Nourish and Strengthen Department includes footwear from Finish Line, various brands of athletic apparel, Gaiam Yoga merchandise, Fitbit watches and a Berry Blendz full-service juice and smoothie bar.

“This is the new way Macy’s is looking at the customer,” said Andrea Schwartz, vice president of media relations and cause marketing.

Macy’s is hiring 117 additional employees at the Easton store to support several new initiatives and is counting on its heightened focus on customer service to make the physical changes to the store successful. One example is the Connect @Macy’s kiosk which will offer one-on-one service to customers as soon as they walk into the store. Additionally, Macy’s will offer a free personal-shopper service called My Stylist @Macy’s.

So far the Easton store is the only prototype.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch