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Walmart observed its 50th anniversary in fine fashion this week as its share price hit an all-time high. Walmart shares closed Tuesday at an all time high of $70.75, nearly 18% above the $59.97 level where they began the year and more than 46% above the 52-week low price of $48.31 seen late last summer.… Read more »

Online measurement firm comScore is out with its top 50 web properties report and Walmart.com must be doing something right, judging from a surge in traffic. Walmart.com was ranked 24th on the top 50 list for May, with 42.4 million unique visitors, a 9% increase from the prior month when comScore showed Walmart.com had 38.8… Read more »

After a surprisingly strong first quarter, consumers have slowed their spending in May, according to the latest report from the National Retail Federation. The NRF reported that May retail sales (excluding automobile, gas stations and restaurants) decreased 0.3% seasonally adjusted from April, but increased 4.8% unadjusted year-over-year, marking 23 consecutive months of retail sales growth.… Read more »

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $404.6 billion, a decrease of 0.2 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month, but 5.3 percent (±0.7%) above May 2011.  Total sales for the March through… Read more »

Speaking at The Home Depot’s 2012 Investor and Analyst Conference in Atlanta, Home Depot EVP Merchandising Craig Menear revved up the power tool rhetoric.  Menear said the company intends to defend its position as power tool market share leader.  He described power tools as a category with a relatively high vulnerability to online competitors. One… Read more »

While dads usually don’t get the same caliber of gift for Father’s Day as moms do on Mother’s Day, if the results of NRF’s latest survey are to be believed, dads should be pretty pleased with what they receive this year. According to NRF’s 2012 Father’s Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average person… Read more »

By Brian Girouard People today seamlessly integrate the use of all types of technologies in their lives, including the way they shop – at any time, at any location. As a result, they are more informed and selective about the products and services they want and use, and are more empowered towards the industries that… Read more »

Surging profits and a 6.7% first quarter same-store sales increase prompted Dollar General to raise its full-year profit forecast by three cents. Dollar General shows no signs of slowing down this year, after posting first-quarter results that saw the company’s total sales increase 13% to nearly $3.5 billion and net income increase 36% to $213… Read more »

According to the 2012 Retail Outlook Survey, 77% of retail executives indicate that their companies have significant cash on the balance sheet – up from 72% in KPMG’s 2011 survey – and 56% say their companies’ cash positions have increased from last year.  So,what do retail execs plan to do with their cash? 58% of… Read more »

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had declined slightly in April, fell further in May. The Index now stands at 64.9 (1985=100), down from 68.7 in April. The Expectations Index declined to 77.6 from 80.4, while the Present Situation Index decreased to 45.9 from 51.2 last month. Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at… Read more »