Retail sales rose in January, helped once again by the strong automotive sector and healthy post-holiday clearance sales. Gift card redemption continued in the early part of the month. Many retailers, concerned at the impact of promotional pricing on margins, have revised their quarterly earnings estimates downward, but look forward to starting the new fiscal year with clean stocks.  Total retail sales increased 5.4% on a 12-month smoothed basis, lower than December's revised 5.6% rise. … [Read more...]

The retail sector added 11,000 net new jobs in the month of January, and now empoys 14.7 million. Over 19,000 of the new jobs were in the department stores, followed by 15,000 in general merchandise stores. Apparel specialty store employment declined by 14,000. Since an employment trough in December 2009, retail has added 390,000 jobs. On a 12-month smoothed basis, retail employment rose 1.2%, compared to 1.5% for the overall economy. The department store sector growth rate was 5.8%, … [Read more...]

Though January marks the end of the fiscal year for virtually all retailers, it's the least important in terms of sales. Store traffic plummets, revenues are low, and clearance sales abound. This year, however, major chains - or at least the top 16 that still report monthly same-store sales - were split on whether they were satisfied with January performance.  Despite unseasonably warm weather in much of the country that had a detrimental effect on sales of sweaters, outerwear and other … [Read more...]

Retail sales rose in December, helped once again by strong automotive sales and a healthier than expected (but exceedingly promotional) Holiday 2011 selling season, but the increase was less than November's, and many retail economists worried that the impact on margin might be a problem. Total retail sales increased 5.7% on a 12-month smoothed basis, lower than the previous month's revised 6.6% rise.  Removing autos from the mix, sales rose 4.5%. Department, discount and chain stores … [Read more...]

The retail sector was again was a bright spot in the employment picture, adding 28,000 new jobs in the month of December, the second largest contributor after transportation and warehousing. Most of the positions - 13,000 of them -  were in general merchandise stores, while another 11,000 were in the specialty store sector. Only 4,000 jobs were in department stores, many of them at Macy's. Many of the jobs were seasonal ones, which may indicate that a decline in retail employment will … [Read more...]

Santa left goodies for "nice" retailers in December -- those whose promotions were frequent and aggressive and whose product was desirable and on-target -- but coal for those who couldn't get customers to open their wallets. With deep discounting, doorbusters and couponing prevailing until stores closed on Christmas Eve (and starting up again on the morning of the 26th!) shoppers had a lot to smile about during the period between Thanksgiving and the end of December. Despite unseasonably … [Read more...]

Retail sales rose in November, helped once again by strong automobile sales and a healthier than expected (but exceedingly promotional) Black Friday weekend, but the increase was less than October's, and lower than many had hoped for. Total retail sales increased 6.1% on a 12-month smoothed basis, lower than the previous month's 6.5% rise.  Removing autos from the mix, sales rose 5.8%. Department, discount and chain stores improved, however. The November decline was smaller than that … [Read more...]

The retail sector made a significant contribution to the employment situation in November. Out of the 120,000 new jobs added in the economy, 50,000  were in retail, with more than half the retail positions - a whopping 27,000 of them - in the specialty store sector. On a 12-month smoothed basis, retail employment rose 1.8%, compared to 1.2% for the overall economy. The specialty store sector growth rate was 8%, compared to 1% for department stores.     Though … [Read more...]

Total sales rose a collective 1.6% and same-store sales increased 1.3% at the top 17 apparel-oriented stores that reported November results today. Although many retailers enjoyed robust sales on Black Friday, unseasonably warm weather through much of the month had a detrimental effect on sales of cold weather apparel and accessories, and negatively impacted overall results. Retailers reporting exceptional Black Friday sales include Nordstrom, Kohl's, Macy's, Target, Walmart, and Gap. It … [Read more...]

Total E-commerce sales, or sales of goods the orders for which were placed over the Internet, reached a record $48.2 billion in the third quarter on an adjusted basis, or 4.2% ot total retail sales in the period. E-retail sales grew by 13.7%  since the same period last year, a much higher increase than the 8.2% that all retail sales grew compared to the third quarter of 2010.   … [Read more...]