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The latest Survey of Consumer Expectations from the New York Fed stated that as of March consumers expect their spending will increase by 4.5% over the next year. This is a big change from February findings, when consumers thought spending would be just 3.8%. The February decline is attributed to the poor weather conditions. Retail… Read more »

Belk Inc., founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk and in the third generation of Belk family leadership, has hired Goldman Sachs to help it evaluate strategic alternatives, including a potential sale. Belk is the largest family owned department store chain in the US, valued at as much as $4 billion. In fiscal year 2014,… Read more »

Belk, with 297 stores in 16 Southern states, announced several key strategic initiatives for this year, to include increasing their store count, remodeling other stores and improving its e-commerce fulfillment center in Jonesville, S.C. After reporting a holiday season sales increase of 5.2%, Belk finished its fiscal year on January 31 down 7.8% in net… Read more »

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) conducted a workshop in Dallas, detailing the Exchanges’ go to market strategy, with over 50 AAFES representatives and an audience of manufacturers, brokers, distributors and service providers. The goal of the workshop was to simplify the process of selling to AAFES. AAFES representatives discussed store repositioning strategies… Read more »

Swarovski is the centerpiece of Las Vegas’ newest retail destination, Grand Bazaar Shops. To keep with the Grand Bazaar theme, Swarovski has opened their first-ever “bartering window”, allowing shoppers to negotiate the price they pay for select items. Most items to be found in the bartering window are limited edition items such as crystallized Beats… Read more »

After sinking 0.7% in January, the biggest drop in 6 years, the consumer price index rose 0.2% in February. This is attributed to a rise in gas costs and broad increases in other categories. Outside of food and energy, the cost of rents, clothes, new and used cars and airfares all also increased 0.2% last… Read more »

The National Retail Federation released its 2015 Easter Spending Survey, gauging consumer behavior and shopping trends leading to the holiday. The report finds that the average person celebrating Easter will spend $140.62, over 2014’s $137.46 average spend. Total spending is expected to reach $16.4 billion. “Easter will be the perfect segue into spring for both… Read more »

The US dollar has increased 12% so far in 2015 against the euro and is up 27% from a year ago. This has prompted Wall Street analysts to make deep cuts to earnings forecasts of US multinational companies, and increasing the appeal of smaller, domestically focused companies. As a result, investors are keeping a continued… Read more »

PwC administered a global survey to understand and compare consumer shopping behaviors and the use of different retail channels across 19 territories. Key findings:   US Consumers Shopping Online 39% of US consumers surveyed make online purchases monthly Top 3 reasons why US shoppers buy online instead of in store: lower prices/better deals than in… Read more »

American Express announced a new coalition loyalty program, called Plenti. Macy’s, Rite Aid, ExxonMobil and other major companies are joining American Express for this new  offering not previously available to U.S. shoppers. Shoppers can earn points when they make purchases with participating retailers, and then those points are good for savings at all of those… Read more »