Another mixed month for retail sales. While some retailers rebounded and look to go into Back to School on a positive note, it was another dark month for some mall and teen retailers.
Wal-Mart beat expectations with a 5.8% increase in June (showing 6.1% increase at their US name-brand stores and a 4.6% increase at their Sam’s Club locations). Target ended up in positive territory with a 0.4% uptick in same store sales. Costco showed a 9% increase, Kohl’s beat estimates with a 2.3% increase, and even mall retailer Aeropostale showed gains with a 12% increase in June.
The month was not as kind to mall and teel retailers such as Gap (company down 7%), Abercrombie (down 3%), and American Eagle (down 11%).
June’s numbers have been posted to Retail Numbers, which allows you to chart and track the retail industry monthly same-store sales.
More coverage from Fox Business and the Associated Press.
Photo above from Flickr user James@mannequindisplay. com, used under Creative Commons.
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Wednesday
January 3, 2007
The holidays have come and gone. The six day work weeks are over for me. For two months, I was spending upwards of 65-70 hours a week out of my house, due to work and the associated commute. The chaos that is the holiday season in retail did not leave me much time to blog, as you have seen. But that is all behind us and now the industry looks towards returns, inventories, markdowns, home/white sales, and trying to get back into shape for the new year.
Everyone is getting ready to release their December results this week. After a year that was mostly up for a lot of folks, how is December going to fair? Mild weather across most of the country and high(er) inventory levels has prompted analyists to downgrade several major retailers. I’m really interested to see who the winners and losers are this Holiday season.
Was there a must-have item this year that people clamored for? I didn’t really see anything.
Was it the TMX? How many of those dolls were actually produced and sold nationally? It seemed like more made it to Ebay than to actual store shelves.
Maybe it was the PS3 or the Wii? I don’t know how much electronic retailers like Best Buy will have really benefitted from those systems, due to low supply and the fact that their numbers for FY2005 include the Xbox 360 launch. One of my contacts at Target tells me that every time they got a shipment of a new game system, their camping/outdoor department benefitted the most from the sales of tents, chairs, and other supplies for the people waiting 3+ days outside for the new systems.
Anyway, for the time being I am back and hope to amuse you with some of my thoughts on this crazy industry.
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Another one of my exciting weekly rundowns of quick things going on around the retail industry:
Maybe I need to put on my tin foil hat, but I’m not a fan of one test currently going on in Florida. Coast to Coast convenience store in Tampa is currently testing in-store payments via biometrics. That’s where you put your finger into a scanner and your fingerprint is connected to your debit account information. Makers of the system, Pay By Touch, say it is a secure alternative to carrying cash or credit cards. Critics of biometrics say that the system can be defeated with gummi bears. Is this the future of retail payments? I hope not! I use my debit card for a majority of my purchases - but as much as I embrace technology, I don’t know if I am ready to link personal information in to my fingerprint. [story via Slashdot]
ManagersRealm writes about the new Home Depot customer service plan that they have launched. I talked about this the other day - they’ve earmarked $30m to give to stores and employees who provide great customer service. Is it going to work? Probably not. It seems that Gary Bourgeault shares this opinion and offers up some ideas on how the company could improve service.
J.Crew prepares for their IPO this week. Looking to raise $280 million through this stock sale, how will Wall Street react? I’m thinking investors will love this stock - a first quarter profit increase of 60%, the launch of the kids’ store, crewcuts, and the development of a new women’s store, Madewell. J.Crew has enjoyed a great turnaround over the past two years and this IPO is just another step forward.
Gap Inc. has announced three more locations for Forth & Towne, all in the Los Angeles area. All three will be opening sometime in the Fall.
Speaking of new stores, looks like Kohl’s has officially put out their list of new stores opening in October.
In somewhat lighter news, I hear a crew over at a local hardware store chain was loading pallets when they knocked into the sprinkler system, causing a minor flood. What better place for there to be a plumbing problem than at a hardware store?
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The May comp store numbers for the retail industry:
In the mall: Abercrombie up 3.0, Aeropostale down 1.1, American Eagle up 11.0, Ann Taylor up 12.0 , Hot Topic down 6.0, Limited Brands up 7.0, and Pacific Sunwear down 2.6. Gap as a company was down 6.0, however the break down between companies is interesting. Gap North America was down 5.0, Gap International is down 13.0, Old Navy was down 8.0, but Banana Republic is starting to show signs of a turnaround with a 3.0 positive comp.
In the department store sector: Dillards up 3.0, Federated up 9.2, JC Penny up 11.1, Kohls up 3.1, Nordstrom up 7.8, and Saks up 5.7.
In the battle of Target v. Wal-Mart and warehouse stores v. warehouse stores, Target was up 5.7 & Wal-Mart was up 2.0. Sams Club was up 4.0 while BJs Wholesale was up 4.2 and Costco was up 10.0.
Generally a pretty positive month across the board. Gap continues to struggle and Kohls is curiously one of the few companies with positive marks that didnt beat investor estimates. Pacific Sunwear was down 2.6 after a fantastic April in which they posted a 14.0 positive comp.
Minyanville posts a good roundup of the May numbers, covering some retailers I didn’t cover here.
Interesting month and a good start to the Summer season in retail.
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