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US consumer sentiment, which measures Americans’ assessment of their personal finances, rose higher than expected in April, based on a University of Michigan survey released Friday. Analysts were hoping to see a rating of 94 in April, after a March rating of 93. Preliminary results for April rises the rating to 95.9. The survey did... Read more »

The US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy will be hosting its annual Energy Star Partner of the Year awards in Washington, DC, on April 20. Of the approximately 16,000 companies who partner with the EPA on their broad-based energy efficiency program, 128 companies are being recognized as Energy Star Partners of the Year.... Read more »

The National Retail Federation conducted a Tax Return Survey to determine where refund money will be spent by consumers. Two-thirds of the shoppers surveyed were expecting a refund. 47% of shoppers will put their refund into savings, 39.1% will pay down debt and 25.1% will use their refund for daily expenses. Among consumers surveyed between... Read more »

The Home Depot kicks off the Spring season with a variety of omnichannel shopping features. Online shoppers can have purchases sent directly to their home or shipped to their nearest store for pick up. In 2014, 40% of online orders on Homedepot.com were picked up in a local store. Online tools and calculators, such as... Read more »

The latest Survey of Consumer Expectations from the New York Fed stated that as of March consumers expect their spending will increase by 4.5% over the next year. This is a big change from February findings, when consumers thought spending would be just 3.8%. The February decline is attributed to the poor weather conditions. Retail... Read more »

Belk Inc., founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk and in the third generation of Belk family leadership, has hired Goldman Sachs to help it evaluate strategic alternatives, including a potential sale. Belk is the largest family owned department store chain in the US, valued at as much as $4 billion. In fiscal year 2014,... Read more »

Belk, with 297 stores in 16 Southern states, announced several key strategic initiatives for this year, to include increasing their store count, remodeling other stores and improving its e-commerce fulfillment center in Jonesville, S.C. After reporting a holiday season sales increase of 5.2%, Belk finished its fiscal year on January 31 down 7.8% in net... Read more »

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) conducted a workshop in Dallas, detailing the Exchanges’ go to market strategy, with over 50 AAFES representatives and an audience of manufacturers, brokers, distributors and service providers. The goal of the workshop was to simplify the process of selling to AAFES. AAFES representatives discussed store repositioning strategies... Read more »

Swarovski is the centerpiece of Las Vegas’ newest retail destination, Grand Bazaar Shops. To keep with the Grand Bazaar theme, Swarovski has opened their first-ever “bartering window”, allowing shoppers to negotiate the price they pay for select items. Most items to be found in the bartering window are limited edition items such as crystallized Beats... Read more »