Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Fairfax, Va. – A competitive promotional environment and delivery problems had a negative impact on net income and revenues at Geeknet, parent company of online retailer ThinkGeek.com and licensed merchandise distributor ThinkGeek Solutions, during the fourth quarter and full year 2014. Net income for fourth quarter 2014 was $1 million, down 80% from net income of $5.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

Total revenue for fourth quarter 2014 was $72.4 million, a decrease of 3% from $74.3 million.

New York - Retail sales in the U.S. will reach $4.87 trillion for the full year 2015. According to EMarketer analysis, this represents a 4% increase from 2014.

U.S. retail e-commerce sales will total approximately $350 billion in 2015, up 14% from $305.7 billion the prior year. Despite rapid growth, retail ecommerce will still account for just 7% of total retail sales in the U.S. during the current year, EMarketer estimates.

San Jose, Calif. - Mobile commerce is growing at nearly three times the rate of overall e-commerce. According to a new study from PayPal and Ipsos, from 2013-2016, the multi-country average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for mobile commerce is projected at 42%, compared to 13% for overall e-commerce (including mobile commerce).

Cincinnati - Multichannel grocery shopping is surging across the globe, with the birth of a new child being a primary driver of an increased propensity to buy online. In addition, according to findings of a new study from customer service company dunnhumby, emerging and nascent markets are seeing the most growth with 97% and 89% year-on-year growth, respectively.

Brentwood, Texas -- Tractor Supply Company will open its 1,400th store, in Eunice, Louisiana, on Feb. 21. The location is one 110 to 115 new stores the retailer plans to open this year.

"We are thrilled to be celebrating another milestone in Tractor Supply's growth story, with the opening of our 1,400thstore," said president and CEO Greg Sandfort. "We believe there is still tremendous expansion potential ahead, and we are excited for the opportunity to serve the rural lifestyle in new markets."

London – Leading U.K. supermarket chain Tesco plc is reportedly considering laying off as many as 10,000 employees in response to poor profit performance. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Tesco may lay off up to 6,000 employees from its head office and 43 stores the retailer already announced it will close, and eliminate the rest by streamlining operations.

Jobs eliminated by streamlining would include executive positions. In January, Tesco said it would shutter 43 stores with as many as 2,000 resulting layoffs.
 

Armonk, N.Y. - Consumers headed online for their Valentine’s Day shopping this year. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, during Valentine’s week (Feb. 7 – 13) online shopping rose 10.2% from the same period in 2014.

In addition to overall sales, consumers ramped up their shopping efforts the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. Growth was seen in key verticals including:

Chicago -- Retail CFOs predict a 3.9% increase in total sales and a 3.7% increase in same-store sales in 2015, according to a new BDO USA survey.

While the forecast is about one percentage point lower than 2014’s bullish projections, 66% of retailers expect comparable store sales to increase, and with 71% of retailers including online sales in their comparable store sales reports, a considerable amount of this 2015 growth may come from further e-commerce sales, which grew 16% in 2014, according to eMarketer.