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Within the designer luxury brands market, some brands have seen increased sales while others showed decreases. While the overall market for luxury goods has grown steadily since the end of the recession, the trend for wealthy shoppers is to purchase their products in a subtle way, steering away from flashy logos.  Gucci sales were down... Read more »

May 2015 showed a drop in retail sales by 7.6% versus May 2014. Driving the sales decline was a 9.8% decrease in store traffic and an 8.3% decrease in number of transactions. Some metrics did show year-over-year improvement. Average transaction value rose 0.8% and sales per shopper increased 2.5%. The highest day of selling in... Read more »

Vera Bradley, Inc., has hired Theresa Palermo from Fossil to be its new Chief Marketing Officer. Ms. Palermo will start at Vera Bradley on June 22. “Theresa comes to Vera Bradley with an accomplished retail marketing background,” said Vera Bradley CEO Robert Wallstrom. “She has a terrific blend of creative and analytical skills and a... Read more »

The US Consumer Spending Index decreased by .4 points in June. Confidence in the economy was mixed, as 10.6% of males reported the economy as excellent, versus only 2.9% of females reporting the same. 33.5% of respondents viewed the economy as excellent or good, but 65.2% reporting it fair or poor. When asked about personal... Read more »

In the first quarter, Home Depot Inc. increased net earnings to $1.58 billion, up 14% from $1.38 billion a year ago. Home Depot reported sales of $20.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, up 6.1% from prior year. Same store sales rose 6.1% and comp-sales for US stores were up 7.1%. Home Depot... Read more »

US housing rose 20.2% in April from March and home building grew to the highest level since 2007, before the housing recession began. This is the biggest percentage increase since February 1991. New applications for building permits, foretelling construction in the coming months, increased 10.1%. The increased activity was broad: starts on single-family units climbed... Read more »

The Walt Disney World resort is expanding its current Downtown Disney complex, rebranding the shopping, dining and entertainment area as Disney Springs. Downtown Disney will be transformed into Disney Springs, including four distinct outdoor neighborhoods, by 2016. The four distinct areas will have the air of Florida’s waterfront towns and will open in four phases:... Read more »

Data released Friday indicates consumers are more skeptical about the economy. May sentiment unexpectedly fell to 88.6, down from 95.9 in April and an 11-year high in January of 98.1.  Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal projected the May index would stand at 95.5. “Confidence fell in early May as consumers became increasingly convinced... Read more »

Kohl’s, Dillard’s and Nordstrom’s released Q1 sales results yesterday, on the heels of announcements of Q1 losses from JC Penney and Macy’s. Despite launching a loyalty program and expanding advertising, Kohl’s reported weak consumer spending, but did report a gain. Kohl’s reported a profit of $127 million, up slightly from $125 million a year earlier.... Read more »