Resources

October 7, 2014 The 2014 holiday shopping season will be characterized by cautious spending, while economic realities create one of two American holiday shoppers – survivalists and selectionists – according to a new report released from PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. and Strategy, titled “2014 Holiday Outlook: Top trends, consumer behaviors and implications for retailers.” The report was... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Fred’s CEO Bruce A Efird is confident about the company’s initiatives to reposition the convenience-center model, expand marketing and implement new technology – all factors that he expects will help restore growth in the fourth quarter and next year. Efird added that the initiatives are already producing positive results, despite customer traffic... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Family Dollar’s fourth quarter results were affected by decreased customer traffic, prompting chairman and CEO Howard R. Levine to point out that the company is still in the early stages of its turnaround plan. Levine expects that the strategic actions taken in fiscal 2014 will position the company for better sales and... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Tight mortgage lending standards continue to affect sales for single-family builders across the nation, according to a survey released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).  Well over half of the single-family builders surveyed indicated that lending standards were “tight” or “very tight,” while only 11 percent indicated that standards were... Read more »

October 7, 2014 Shop.org today released its 2014 online holiday sales forecast, expecting sales in November and December to grow between 8-11 percent over last holiday season to as much as $105 billion. Shop.org forecasts sales based on government data including consumer credit, disposable personal income, and previous monthly retail sales releases.  Holiday non-store sales... Read more »

October 7, 2014 According to NRF, retailers are expected to hire between 725,000-800,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, potentially more than they actually hired during the 2013 holiday season (768,000).  Seasonal employment in 2013 increased 14 percent over the previous holiday season. “These holiday positions offer hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to turn... Read more »

October 8, 2014 The Conference and PwC Measure of CEO Confidence declined again in the third quarter of 2014.  The Measure now reads 59, down from 62 last quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses). Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “While CEOs... Read more »

October 8, 2014 Costco reported a rise in sales and same-store sales for the fourth quarter. Net sales for the quarter were $34.75 billion, an increase of 9% from $31.77 billion in fiscal 2013.  Same-store sales for the total company increased 6%, while U.S. same-store sales also rose 6%. Net income for the quarter was... Read more »

October 3, 2014 How well many retailers perform this holiday season in store and online will be determined by the shopping preferences of a demographic group that doesn’t typically get a lot of love from marketers. Marketers invest heavily in researching highly desirable segments, such as Millennials or the growing U.S. Hispanic population, to uncover... Read more »