NRF

Washington, D.C. — Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.6% in August 2015 from the same month in 2014 as retailers begin to bring in merchandise for the holiday season. According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, imports for the year are expected to be up 4.2% from 2014.

New York -- Kip Tindell, founder, chairman and CEO of The Container Store, will be inducted into the Retail Hall of Fame at the upcoming World Retail Congress, which will be held Sept. 8-10, in Rome, Italy. Tindell is also the current chairman of the National Retail Federation.

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation (NRF) is now a little less rosy in its sales expectations for 2015. The NRF has lowered its full-year retail sales forecast because of unexpected slow growth recorded during the first half of the year, similar to the industry’s experience in 2014.

However, NRF still expects sales will steadily increase through the remainder of the year. NRF forecasted in February that retail sales would grow 4.1% in 2015 from 2014, but today’s revision lowers the forecast to 3.5%.

What’s wrong with America? Plenty, according to the National Retail Federation which just slashed its full year retail sales forecast ahead of second quarter earnings announcements from major retailers next month.

Washington, D.C. - Following up on last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the National Retail Federation (NRF) and other business groups today urged Congress to move quickly on reforms to the five-year-old healthcare law.

“We write to urge Congress to put priority attention toward easing the cost and compliance burdens associated with the Affordable Care Act,” the groups said in a letter to members of the House and Senate.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation on Wednesday asked the Labor Department to give businesses more time to respond to the administration’s proposal to expand overtime saying the plan’s “drastic changes” will require “extensive analysis” and require companies to speculate on “hypothetical proposals.”

Washington, D.C. - Parents this year will be a little more cautious about their back-to-school spending.

According to NRF’s Back-to-School Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend $630.36 on school needs.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation praised the Senate’s passage on Wednesday of Trade Promotion Authority

Washington, D.C. - Retailers lose billions of dollars to shoplifting, employee and vendor theft and administrative error, collectively known as inventory shrink.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF)/University of Florida National Retail Security Survey, inventory shrink averaged 1.38% of retail sales, or $44 billion, in 2014. (The methodology for the survey changed in 2015 and as such, NRF does not have comparable data from prior years for this year’s report.) The report was sponsored by The Retail Equation.  

Washington, D.C. – Back-to-school spending for both K-12 and college students is on the upswing this year. According to a study of more than 6,400 adults with children in K-12 and college conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights, 29% of K-12 households plan to spend more in the current year than the previous year, as do almost 30% of college households.