Online Sales Of Specialty Apparel Growing Rapidly
Online sales of specialty apparel is growing at a rate of about 2% a year and could make up 20% of the market very soon, according to Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. E-commerce sales of specialty apparel already reached 18.1% last year, nearly doubling from 2007. McNamara predicts that online sales could [...]
Unemployment Falls In Sign The Economy Is Shifting
If you have been eyeing the U.S. economy with skepticism, the latest jobs report from the Labor Department should come as a welcome surprise. Some 243,000 new jobs were added in January, causing the unemployment level to fall to its lowest point since early 2009, coming in at 8.3%. The promising outlook indicates a restored [...]
J. C. Penney Plans Major Store Overhaul, New Image
New J. C. Penney chief executive Ron Johnson announced this week that he has major changes in store for the seasoned retailer. Johnson, who came to the company three months ago, after overseeing Apple’s retail strategy, is putting an end to J. C. Penney’s nearly continuous promotions to focus on a new pricing strategy. This [...]
MrketNY Menswear Show Offers Free Mobile App
Attending a big trade show can be overwhelming, but the organizers of the MRketNY menswear tradeshow have found a solution—a new mobile app that lists exhibitors and offers maps to help you get around. The MrketNY show started yesterday and runs through tomorrow at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, featuring men’s accessories, [...]
Fashion Week Organizers Adjust Fall Dates for NY, London & Milan
After much debate over how to organize the fall 2012 fashion calendar, new dates have been set for both the New York and London fashion weeks. New York Fashion Week will now take place Sept. 6 – 13th, followed by London Sept. 14 – 18th. As a result, Milan will take place Sept. 19th – [...]
U.S. Unemployment Rate Drops to 8.5 Percent
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in three years on Friday, and now stands at 8.5%. Nonfarm payroll employment added 200,000 jobs in December, bringing the country’s total job creation for 2011 to 2 million. While the U.S. job market is steadily improving, unemployment in the eurozone remains high, at 10.3%. External [...]
Holiday Sales Come In Above Average
Holiday shoppers got off to a slow start, but they ended the season with some momentum, thanks to retailers’ quickfire promotions. Big-box stores such as Bloomingdale’s and J. Crew offered as much as 75% percent off on post-Christmas goods, in an effort to end the season on a high note, even though it limited the [...]
Early Holiday Markdowns Could Mean Soft Sales in January
After a strong early start fueled by markdowns, holiday sales have slowed and retailers are continuing to discount in order to drive business. “Everyone is on sale,” says Blacks Retail Founder and Senior Consultant Steve Pruitt.”The problem is what are the retailers going to do after Christmas?” Since merchants started marking down earlier this year, [...]
Survey: Tablet Users Like To “Indulge” In Online Shopping
With mobile apps that look for deals, coupons, and other online promotional tools at shoppers’ disposal, it may be easy for retailers to think of technology as something that aids consumers more than them. However, the growing popularity of tablets, such as the Apple iPad, might provide a welcome surprise. A recent survey by Zmags [...]
Daily Deal Sites To Do Well This Holiday Season
In another sign that consumers will be looking for deals this holiday season, daily deal aggregator Yipit predicts that shoppers will spend between $80 million $100 million on daily deal sites between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If they’re right, that would be a $15 million $20 million increase over last year. Fortunately, these deal sites rarely [...]
Black Friday Weekend Sales Beat Records
Black Friday weekend set record sales this year, providing a pleasant surprise to retailers given the current economic climate. Sales were up 16.4% to $52 billion, beating last year’s sales by nearly $5 billion, accorded to the National Retail Federation (NRF). And even though Cyber Monday has not yet been tabulated, online shoppers provided some [...]
Retailers See Backlash as Black Friday Bleeds into Thanksgiving
For the last several years, it seems that holiday sales have been creeping up, and even running into back-to-school promotions. And this year, retailers such as Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy, have even announced that they will be open Thanksgiving evening for early Black Friday sales. This has left consumers saying that enough [...]
October Retail Sales Slide After Two Months Of Gains
October retail sales came in lower than expected following two months of strong gains, according to a recent survey by by Thomson Reuters. Retailers posted an average increase of 3.4% in October, lower than the 4.5% gain analysts’ predicted. The October figures, coupled with the government’s recently lowered G.D.P. predictions, are leading some analysts to [...]
Online Holiday Sales Expected To Surge
Online retail sales are expected to grow significantly this holiday season, according to the latest survey by Shop.org. Some 68% online retailers said they expected their holiday sales to be up 15% over last year, thanks to consumers’ growing desire to shop online and look for deals 24 hours a day rather than go to [...]
NRF: Consumers Plan To Curb Holiday Shopping
Consumers plan to cut back on their holiday shopping this year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF expects the average consumer to decrease their holiday spending by 2.1% from the $719 they spent last year. However, many consumers expect to spend more on non-gift items for themselves and their [...]
September Sales Increases Come As a Surprise
September retail sales grew at the fastest rate in months, according to a new report by the U.S. Commerce Department. September sales rose 1.1% from August, and posted a whopping 7.9% gain over last year, beating analysts’ expectations. Some are already pointing to the report as a sign that the U.S. economy isn’t in as [...]
Analysts: Mid-Market Clothing Stores May Suffer This Holiday Season
Department stores and mass-market merchants will fare better than clothing stores this holiday season, according to Citigroup analysts. The analysts predict that clothing stores will post a 1% to 2% rise over last year, while the rest of the sector is expected to post stronger gains. They are basing their estimates on a lackluster back-to-school [...]
Analysts Lower Holiday Sales Projections Amid Stagnant Economy
It looks as though the holiday sales season will likely reflect the stagnant world economy, and U.S. consumers’ dwindling confidence, according to retail industry insiders. Holiday retail sales are expected to slow to their lowest rate in the past two years – down by as much as 2.2 percent in November through December, compared to [...]
August Retail Sales Come in Flat from July
Retail sales were flat from July to August, showing just a 0.1% increase (excluding autos), according to Commerce Department figures released today. Despite the fact that many luxury apparel stores are reporting strong gains, overall clothing sales dropped 0.7% last month, showing continued weakness among mass-market retailers. July retail sales were also revised downward to [...]
Less Retail Hiring Expected This Holiday Season
Although many retailers are expecting higher holiday sales than last year, most aren’t planning to add seasonal workers, according to a new survey by consulting firm Hay Group. The majority of retailers surveyed, which included Macy’s and Coldwater Creek, expect to keep their holiday staffs levels to last year, or even cut back on workers. [...]
U.S. Economic Growth Comes in Lower Than Expected
Second-quarter growth came in lower than previously expected, according to a government report released Friday. U.S. Gross Domestic Product rose 1.0 percent, down from the 1.3 percent projected rate, likely due to weaker business inventories and exports, the Commerce Department said. The report came on the heels of Standard & Poor’s credit downgrade of the [...]
Gap’s Q2 Profit Slides 19% On Weak Domestic Sales, Women’s Wear
Gap Inc.’s second-quarter income slid 19% to $189 million, due to slowing sales in North America and weakness in its women’s wear business. Gap Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy said in a webcast that its recent women’s wear styles got “a little too modern” for their customer. It looks as though they’re going to retool [...]
Saks Launches Private Label Women’s Wear Line
Saks Fifth Avenue is launching a private-label women’s wear line that it hopes will be as popular as it’s menswear line, introduced in 2009. Workwear styles will be unveiled shortly, followed by casualwear in November. Saks’ private label menswear line is one of the largest brands in the store, and they’re hoping to replicate this [...]
Consumer Confidence Falls Amid Stock Market Swings
Consumer confidence fell sharply in the first half of August, following dramatic stock market swings and slow department store sales posted for July. The consumer confidence index fell from 63.7 in July to 54.9 in August, according to the Thomson Reuters-University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. But although the first half of the month has [...]
