Attitudes: Retailers

YONKERS, N.Y. -- In another positive sign for the economy,  the March Consumer Reports Index reveals its most positive results in two years.

According to Consumer Reports National Research Center, which conducts the survey, the Consumer Sentiment Index has broken into positive territory at 50.3, which is up from 48.7 a month ago. This is the first time sentiment has been in positive territory since it was first measured in October 2008.

Walmart executives will take to the road next week to speak at two investor conferences where it would seem unlikely that little if any new information will be shared since the conferences are just two weeks removed from the release of Walmart’s fourth-quarter results.

Target’s longstanding pricing philosophy of remaining within a few percentage points of Walmart remains intact, according to the most recently monthly pricing survey from Credit Suisse. The firm looks at prices on a basket of goods in Dallas and Chicago each month, and in January it revealed the gap between Walmart and Target had widened to 3.9% from 3.7% in December.

Everyone has an opinion on Walmart, especially given the subpar performance of the U.S. stores division. The search for answers makes for some interesting conversations such as the one that took place earlier this week on the financial news network CNBC. Click here to watch. 

NEW YORK — The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index reached 70.4 in February, a three-year high from February 2008, thanks to growing optimism about the short-term future.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- The American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual E-Commerce Report, produced in partnership with ForeSee Results and released on Tuesday, showed that customer satisfaction with e-commerce websites is down 2.6% to 79.3 on the ACSI's 100-point scale.

The results are the lowest since 2004.

According to the report, falling satisfaction with online retail pulled down aggregate satisfaction with the e-commerce sector overall, which also includes online brokerage and online travel.

Wells Fargo retail analyst Matt Nemer put several leading retailers to the test this week with an innovative approach to research. According to Barron’s, he went on a $5,000 shopping spree on the websites of some of the largest Internet-only and traditional retailers. He said Amazon.com offered the best shopping experience, and he rated the retailer at outperform. Walmart.com, was said to have higher prices than Amazon’s, but had strong customer service and didn’t showed up as well in searches.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Monday by The Conference Board said that retail employers expanded their work forces in January.
 
The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index increased 0.2% to 100.5, the highest level in two years. The measure rose 7% from a year earlier.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Kronos on Monday announced the release of its Retail Labor Index, which showed a February increase to 4.2% from 3.85% in January. (This metric is defined as the percentage of job applications that result in a hiring, normalized within a scale of 0 to 100. A level of 3.0% means that for every 100 applications received, three hirings occurred.)

February’s metric is the highest the Index has been since August 2008 when it reached 4.45%, according to Kronos.

New York City -- New York City residents spent nearly $200 million at about a dozen Walmart stores in the New York metropolitan area in 2010, up about 20% from the amount reported in a previous 12-month period, the company said Monday, according to Crain’s New York.

Although Wal-Mart does have any stores in New York City proper, the chain is determined to break into the market and is working to overcome opposition from labor, community and small business groups.