Nordstrom is piloting a new service for customers in several US stores, including at its flagship store in downtown Seattle. The service gives customers the ability to text or call the store ahead of time and a store associate will be waiting on the curb with their products when the customer arrives. Nordstrom has allowed in-store pickup of online items since 2008. The retailer also plans to pilot the service for Men’s alterations.
Source: Chain Store Age
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for April came in at 95.2. Expectations were to see an increase to 102.2 over March’s index of 101.3. March was very high, beating the consensus forecast of 96.4.
Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board, said in the release: “This month’s retreat was prompted by a softening in current conditions, likely sparked by the recent lackluster performance of the labor market, and apprehension about the short-term outlook.“
Before the release, Bank of America Merril Lynch economists noted a weak job report in March and climbing gas prices may create less consumer optimism about the economy. Consumers expecting job growth fell to 13.8% from 15.3% and those expecting fewer jobs rose to 16.3% from 13.6%. Also, 11.2% of consumers are expecting wage cuts, up from 9.7% in March.
Source: Business Insider
Starting May 1, J.C.Penney Co. Inc. is expanding its in-store partnership with Sephora, introducing Sephora to 25 additional J.C. Penney stores. Since the exclusive partnership began in 2006, more than 500 J.C. Penney stores feature a full-service Sephora offering.
In addition to these openings, J.C. Penney will expand its square footage of Sephora inside 6 of its existing locations to an average of 3000 sq. ft. J.C. Penney hopes the expansion to new and smaller markets, as well as its growth of current space, will expand J.C. Penney’s reach as a destination for beauty.
“Sephora is one of the most powerful and exciting beauty concepts in the world, and we want to leverage that reputation to drive the growth of Sephora inside J.C. Penney,” said Ivy Spargo, senior VP and general merchandise manager for Sephora inside J.C. Penney. “With the addition of these locations, we are providing clients with a unique and compelling in-store beauty experience, while generating a wealth of cross shopping appeal.”
Source: Chain Store Age
The National Association of Realtors announced its pending home sales index, which measures contract signings for purchases of previously owned homes, increased 1.1% to a level of 108.6 in March, up from 107.4 in February. The Wall Street Journal surveyed economists who predicted the increase. The index rose 11.1% in March from the previous year.
Home sales have stabilized since dropping a year ago, when interest rates began to rise. Completed existing-home sales increased 6.1% in March. While sales of newly-built homes declined in March from February, they still increased almost 20% from sales in March 2014.
The pending home sales for existing homes rose in the South and the West in March, but fell in the Northeast and Midwest.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Demographic trends firmly favor small luxuries, according to a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Vanity capital is globally at $3.7 trillion, with expectations to grow to $4.5 trillion by 208. Typical products range from cosmetics and smartphones, to fitness wear and health foods. They also include high end products like art, cars and fine wine.
The demographic trends include women who have more disposable income and are particularly prone to spend on small luxuries that improve their appearance, like anti-aging cosmetics. Over 40 percent of 25 to 35 year old Americans say they are already using or plan to use anti-aging products. Sales of anti-aging cosmetics grew by 5% to $25 billion in 2013 and sales are projected to rise by another 29% by 2018. Companies selling vanity products are seeing their stocks increase. Vanity capital stock earnings are forecast to grow by 37% over the next two years.
Accelerated Analytics’ customers who sell into this space include L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Chanel, LVMH, Shiseido, Clarins, Coty, Elizabeth Arden, Osmotics, and Strivectin.
Source: CNBC
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which measures the performance of the managing sector based on five weights: New Orders (30%), Output (25%), Employment (20%), Supplier Delivery Times (15%) and Stock of Items Purchased (10%), decreased in the US In April.
A reading above 50 indicates an expansion of the manufacturing sector, while below 50 represents a contraction. April PMI in the US decreased to 54.2 from 55.7 in March. Manufacturing PMI in the US averaged 54.24 from 2012 until 2015, reaching an all-time high of 57.9 in August 2014 and a record low of 51 in November 2012. This rate of expansion was the slowest so far in 2015.
Japan, China, France, Germany and the US all reported readings that decreased from expectations. Japan, China and France had readings below 50. This is a continued downward trend for Japan and China. Numbers were a reversal for Germany and the US, which had been producing some great numbers so far this year.
US survey respondents generally cited softer new business gains, especially from international markets. This contributed to a softer increase in pre-production inventories. Supplier lead times lengthened for the twenty-second month, with a number of companies noting ongoing transportation delays at west coast ports at the beginning of the year.
Sources: Bloomberg, Trading Economics
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Customers increased 0.2 percent in March, reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 17.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in March, the same as seen in January and February. Many sub-indexes rose in March, including apparel, household furnishings and operations and recreation. Apparel grew 0.5 percent, its third consecutive increase. Household furnishings and operations rose 0.2 percent.
The Consumer Price Index for April 2015 is scheduled for release on Friday, May 22.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
The US Census Bureau reports monthly on inventory levels for retail, wholesale and manufacturing sectors. This trend will impact retailers themselves, consumer goods manufacturers, suppliers to those manufacturers and transportation carriers.
The inventory-to-sales ratio in retail has been declining pretty steadily for the last 20 years, with the exception of 2008 when the recession hit full force and retailers were caught with too much inventory relative to quickly declining demand. But most recovered quickly, shedding inventories to put things back on the downward trend line within one year.
The retail inventory-to-sales ratio reached a low sometime during early 2012, but has been slowly increasing since then, mainly due to the fact that interest rates are so low (meaning the cost of holding inventory is less), but also perhaps due to increased optimism on the part of retailers as well.
Source: Supply Chain News
Total apparel industry dollar sales grew 2% in the retail calendar year ended February 2015. However, in-store sales of apparel fell 2%. While New York and Los Angeles are the biggest US markets selling clothing, smaller regions like Orlando and Washington, DC are now the top markets for dollar volume increase for the apparel industry. Washington, DC showed in-store sales up 14%.
Both Orlando and Washington, DC generated strong sales performance both in-store and online. Online sales in the industry grew 19% overall. The top markets such as Los Angeles did grow online sales by double digits. However, in most cases the markets that are outperforming in the industry as a whole are those with greater in-store sales growth than online gains.
“The big regions are no longer leading apparel industry sales growth,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, in a statement. “When New York and Los Angeles don’t even make it into the top 10 list of DMAs driving apparel growth, we have a big opportunity gap in the market. We need to understand the cause in order for the apparel industry to regain traction moving forward.”
Source: Forbes
Traditional Black Friday takes place the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year and the most recognized branding for shoppers. Retailers are attempting to use that recognition to drive sales this spring with “Spring Black Friday” events.
Home Depot stores started its “Spring Black Friday” with a cyber week of deals at HomeDepot.com. Trying to make an online event stick is important to Home Depot because it is becoming more reliant on its web site sales for growth. The chain did not open any new stores in the US last year, but e-commerce sales grew 37% to $3.8 billion, accounting for 5% of total revenue.
Home Depot competitor Lowe’s is holding its Spring Black Friday event for the third straight year. Retailers outside of home improvement are also trying to make Spring Black Friday a tradition. Bon-Ton Stores has held one every year since 2012 and had its most recent one two weeks ago.
Source: Bloomberg Business
