Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Pittsburgh – Net income at GNC Holdings Inc. slipped during the second quarter of fiscal 2014, falling 2% to $69.89 billion from $71.69 billion in the prior year period. For second quarter 2014, the company reported consolidated revenue of $675.2 million, a decrease of 0.2% as compared to consolidated revenue of $676.3 million for second quarter 2013.

Minneapolis – Tile Shop Holdings Inc. reported a 38% dip in net income during the second quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier. Net income fell to $3.96 billion from $6.48 billion, with Tile Shop citing adverse macroeconomic conditions, including home sales, as having a generally negative impact on the business.

New York - U.S. retail and consumer merger & acquisition (M&A) activity during second quarter 2014 was driven by eight multibillion dollar transactions, anchored by the food and beverage (including alcohol and retailing) sectors, exceeding year-over-year deal value by 104% and volume by 52%.

New York - June 2014 showed levels of imports to the U.S. 6% higher than imports in June 2013. According to new data from Panjiva, the numbers of shipments coming into the U.S. also changed .03% from May 2014 to June 2014.

Although Panjiva analysis indicates imports are strong and the U.S. economy generally looks optimistic, a possible port workers strike brewing in California could disrupt 40% of the waterborne goods coming into the country. Situations in the Middle East and Ukraine may cause supply chain disruptions as well.

New York – Business-to-consumer e-commerce sales are expected to reach $14.7 trillion globally in 2014, up about 20% from $1.23 trillion in 2013. According to a new study from EMarketer, this figure will gradually increase to almost $2.36 trillion in 2018.

Washington, D.C. -- Slower-than-expected growth during the first half of the year caused the National Retail Federation to lower its retail sales forecast for 2014. NRF said it now expects sales will grow 3.6% in 2014, down from its earlier forecast of 4.1%. The group joined other industry experts in forecasting a pick-up in activity in the next five months.  

The National Retail Federation has joined the growing chorus of voices expecting a surge in consumer spending during the next five months to compensate for a weak start to the year.

New York - The back-to-school (BTS) shopping season is already in full swing, with over one-third (37%) of consumers having begun their shopping – up from the 29% who started at this time last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. And roughly 90% of households indicated a selection of brick-and-mortar retail as a shopping venue for the BTS season.

The economic trend for some time now has been a slow and meandering recovery. Despite improving consumer confidence numbers, a surprising first quarter GDP decline of 2.9% speaks to that uncertainty. Retail analysts and observers have a tendency to blame the weather whenever we have a bad economic quarter or when retail sales are unexpectedly sluggish, but I tend to be a little dubious of those explanations. Last winter was definitely rough enough to impact spending, but I don’t think it’s enough to explain the continued issues into the spring.

Austin, Texas – Parents spend, on average, $659 on school-related costs throughout the year per family. According to a survey from digital coupon provider RetailMeNot, 67% of parents start their back-to-school shopping by the end of July, which is down slightly from 2013 (71%).