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While consumer confidence may be slightly down, retailers that cater to lower-income and higher-income consumers should be pleased with the most recent Consumer Reports Index, as those two groups showed the greatest improvement in consumer sentiment. The Consumer Reports Index, an overall measure of Americans’ personal financial health, saw a sharp improvement in its consumer sentiment… Read more »

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had declined in May, fell further in June. The Index now stands at 62.0 (1985=100), down from 64.4 in May. The Expectations Index declined to 72.3 from 77.3. The Present Situation Index, however, increased to 46.6 from 44.9 last month. Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The… Read more »

Total U.S. shopper traffic in retail stores and malls for June 2012 Summer retail is heating up. June brought high temperatures and a steady stream of shoppers to stores across the nation. Retail foot traffic in June increased 5.2% compared with the previous month and 7% over the same period last year.  Retailers saw a… Read more »

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 »