retail sales

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Retailers Slash Prices to Boost Slumping Season

Plagued by high gas and food prices, shoppers hold out for bargains

(Newser) - Retailers slashed prices nationwide this weekend in a bid to draw last-minute shoppers and lift a slumping holiday season, Bloomberg reports. Pressed by high gas and food prices, consumers are holding out for zero-hour deals; retailers have obliged with half-off sales and extra hours, counting on the last days before...

Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q
Best Buy
Profit Soars
52% in 3Q
Dec 18, 2007 12:21 PM CST

Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q

Less discounting helps retail giant best expectations

(Newser) - A consumer hankering for big-ticket items—and a willingness to pay closer to full price for them—helped Best Buy's third-quarter profit rise 52%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Absent last year's discounting on flat-screen TVs, the country's largest electronics chain posted Q3 net income of $228 million, or 53...

Ho-Hum Season Sees Drop in Women's Apparel Sales

With less money to spend on family, women pull back on purchasing for themselves

(Newser) - Women's spending on apparel for the first half of the Christmas season is down, alarming retailers and spawning broad worry in the industry. Experts blame a bleak economy and blah fashions for a slump of nearly 6% compared with a year ago, reports the New York Times. Men’s clothing...

Holiday E-Commerce Still Suffers Growing Pains

Net surfing window shoppers blamed for crashes, meltdowns

(Newser) - As online retailers post record sales this year, holiday e-commerce meltdowns show that stores still don't have the kinks ironed out of their sites. Despite increased capacity on retail sites, crashes such as Sears.com's eight-hour Black Friday crash and Yahoo Shopping's 10-hour Cyber Monday outage continue to plague holiday...

Markets Rally After Early Swoon
Markets Rally After Early Swoon
MARKETS
Dec 13, 2007 3:43 PM CST

Markets Rally After Early Swoon

Good numbers from consumers make for bullish afternoon

(Newser) - Thanks to two pieces of unexpectedly good news today, the markets erased early losses, the Dow climbing 44.06 to 13,517.96 after dipping to almost 13,350 this morning. Retail sales in November increased 1.2%, twice what watchers had estimated. And wholesale prices had their biggest one-month...

Nov. Retail Sales Up 1.2%; Sky May Not Be Falling

(Newser) - November’s retail sales confounded doomsayers, surging 1.2%, twice the 0.6% analysts predicted, Bloomberg reports. Many had worried that consumer spending would take a hit as gas rose and housing fell, but now it looks like job and income growth could cushion the fall. “The numbers should...

Video Games May Replace DVDs In Stores
Video Games May Replace DVDs In Stores
OPINION
Dec 10, 2007 1:09 PM CST

Video Games May Replace DVDs In Stores

Ars Technica sees big game sales driving shelf space decisions

(Newser) - DVD sales are slipping while video games and their tie-ins are seeing record consumption, reports Ars Technica, leading Ben Kuchera to suggest that video games will replace DVDs on many retail shelves. With even grandmothers now going Wii wild, video games are no longer just the realm of teens and...

CompUSA to Close After Xmas
CompUSA to Close After Xmas
Dec 8, 2007 6:28 AM CST

CompUSA to Close After Xmas

All stores to close after the holidays

(Newser) - CompUSA has been sold to a restructuring company and will be ending retail operations after the holidays, AP reports. The troubled electronics retailer, bought by Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim in 1999, closed more than half its outlets in the spring after repeated  turnaround efforts failed. Gordon Brothers Group will...

Cold Calls to Loved Ones: 'Buy This!'

More stores bug buyers with calls; etiquette experts cringe

(Newser) - Tired of dropping hints and still getting the "wrong" gift? Now more stores notify potential buyers about what their loved ones want, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chains like Searle call up about that $300 scarf and onliner retailer Net-a-Porter sends video emails—along with the warning, "Let's...

Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers
Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers
Nov 23, 2007 10:38 AM CST

Web Lifts Holiday Gloom of Retailers

Online shoppers get jump on Black Friday sales, to the delight of merchants

(Newser) - Cyberspace may be this year’s favorite holiday destination as shoppers looking for bargains and trying to escape crowds eschew traditional brick-and-mortar malls for a cornucopia of retail opportunities online, reports Reuters. Retailers from Apple to Wal-Mart offered some of their best deals online starting Thursday, trumping the traditional Black...

Macy's Vows to Revive Chicago Flagship

Expert has three years to revive former Marshall Fields

(Newser) - Macy's is changing course to revive Chicago's former Marshall Field's, a downtown fixture that was struggling when Macy's took over last year and has only done worse since, the Chicago Tribune reports. The solution? A $10-million, three-year plan to draw new shoppers into a 139-year-old institution they may have considered...

$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries
$3 Gas
Fuels Retail Worries
Nov 6, 2007 8:02 AM CST

$3 Gas Fuels Retail Worries

Prices at pump hit milestone again, first time since July

(Newser) - Gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon for the first time since mid-July, prompting worries about a consumer pullback as the US heads into the holiday shopping season and cold weather increases energy demands, reports USA Today. It’s the first time gas prices, up 80 cents from a year ago...

Holiday Price Wars Erupt Even Earlier

Retailers compete to draw shoppers as economy sags

(Newser) - No need to wait until the day after Thanksgiving: your Black Friday deal may already be out there waiting. Retailers are launching their assault on shoppers’ wallets even earlier this year, reports CNN Money. “This is probably the earliest that we're seeing the price wars," said consultant George...

Economic Woes Sink Retail Sales
Economic
Woes Sink
Retail Sales
Oct 23, 2007 6:08 PM CDT

Economic Woes Sink Retail Sales

Consumers could see lower prices this holiday season

(Newser) - With the holiday shopping season set to kick off, retailers are lowering prices on thousands of items to clear space for seasonal products, cutting into profits and producing the worst drop in week-to-week sales since May, Bloomberg reports. US retail sales for the week ending Oct. 20 fell 1.5%...

Tech, Retail Sales Spark Rally
Tech, Retail Sales Spark Rally
Oct 12, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

Tech, Retail Sales Spark Rally

S&P has risen five straight weeks

(Newser) - Surging tech stocks and positive economic news that eased recession fears helped fuel the first market rally in three days today, with the S&P 500 capping its fifth straight week of gains to close at 1,561.80, up 7.39. The Dow added 77.96 to close at...

Retail Sales Ease Recession Worries
Retail Sales Ease Recession Worries
Oct 12, 2007 11:06 AM CDT

Retail Sales Ease Recession Worries

Unexpectedly rosy September numbers offset fears over housing, credit markets

(Newser) - Retail sales rose significantly more than expected in September. Analysts attribute the surge, announced today, to more jobs and better wages. Coming in the wake of gloomy numbers the big chains released yesterday, it should quiet fears of a recession. "You can't have a recession if consumers are continuing...

Slow Retail Growth Brings Down Prices

Frosty fall sales have affected even high-end stores

(Newser) - Dismal September sales figures—with just 1.7% growth, the weakest in five years—are prompting the nation's big retail chains to offer big markdowns in the coming weeks. More than a dozen US chains have fallen short of their third-quarter sales forecasts, reports the New York Times, and all...

Forecasts Down after Gloomy September for Retailers

Nordstrom et al. may have a blue, blue Xmas

(Newser) - Gloomy September reports led retailers to lower third-quarter forecasts, the New York Times reported today. With the exception of Wal-Mart—which raised profit forecasts slightly—big chain stores performed below expectations in September. Among the culprits are the credit crunch, warm weather and unflattering comparisons to last September. Even Wal-Mart...

Cargo Drop-off a Sign of Slow Economy

Observers stunned as port imports fall after years of growth

(Newser) - A drop in cargo at US ports has stunned analysts, who call the 1.4% fall more evidence of a stalled economy. A few factors are keeping foreign cargo at bay—the low dollar, wary buyers, and a cool housing market among them—yet observers still expressed shock. "When...

August Retail Sales Fail to Meet Forecasts

Gain of .3% drops to .4% loss if auto sales are excluded

(Newser) - Retail sales were up last month, but the .3% rise failed to meet expectations, and if automobile sales are excluded, sales actually fell by .4%—the steepest drop in a year. The August sales figures provide more fodder for an interest-rate cut when the Fed meets next week. “The...

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