Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. retail e-commerce sales for second quarter 2013, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, totaled $64.8 billion, an increase of 4.9% from first quarter 2013. According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, this figure represented an 18.4% jump from U.S. commerce sales in second quarter 2012.

E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2013 accounted for 5.8% of total U.S. retail sales of close to $1.13 trillion. Total retail sales grew 0.9% quarter-over-quarter and 4.7% year-over-year.

Yesterday’s release of disappointing sales and profits at Walmart was hardly unexpected, but it heightened concerns about the health of the consumer and sparked a broader market sell-off.

Sterne Agee chief economist Lindsey M. Piegza comments on July retail sales gain of 0.2%:

Headline retail sales rose 0.2% in July, slightly less than expected but last month’s sales were revised up two-tenths from 0.4% to 0.6%. This is the fourth consecutive monthly increase in retail sales. Excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5%, the strongest monthly gain since February.

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. retail sales edged up 0.2% in July from June, according to figures from the Department of Commerce. This followed a 0.6% month-over-month boost in sales in June, driven by strong auto sales. The slower sales uptick reflected a drop in purchases of automobiles, along with furniture and electronics.

Washington, D.C. – Seventy-two percent of online adults in the U.S. use social media. Data from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project shows that Twitter is helping drive this widespread social media use, as the percentage of Internet users who are on Twitter has more than doubled since November 2010, currently standing at 18%.

Denver -- Thirty-one percent of survey respondents said they won't be shopping for any back-to-school products at all, up from 27.7% last year, according to research published by The Integer Group. The results were in the latest issue of “The Checkout, an ongoing shopper behavior study conducted by Integer and M/A/R/C Research.

With fewer people shopping, certain channels will see a drop in traffic. Integer predicts that mass, clothing, and drug will take the largest hit, losing 2.3%, 3.2%, and 5.5% of shoppers this year compared to last.

Reston, Va. -- Desktop-based e-commerce sales totaled $49.8 billion in the U.S. during the second quarter of this year. According to a new report from comScore, this represents an almost 16% increase from about $43.1 billion in the second quarter of the previous year.

This also marks the 15th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Mobile commerce spending rose by $4.7 billion, or 24%, during the quarter. Other highlights of comScore’s data include:

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — 99 Cents Only expects to increase its store count by approximately 10% exclusively in existing markets in fiscal 2014, following the company's first quarter results for the period ended June 29.

Newell Rubbermaid has announced plans to sell its hardware business to Nova Capital, a firm that specializes in the acquisition of corporate and private equity portfolios, for $214 million.

Specifically, components of the sale include Newell's Amerock, Ashland, Drapery Hardware, Bulldog and Shur-Line brands. Sales for 2013 came in at $255 million so far, with gross proceeds resting at $214 million.

New York – Despite a slowdown in U.S. retail and consumer merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in second quarter 2013, consumer sentiment and retail sales trends remain positive, along with strong corporate balance sheets and availability of private equity "dry powder," which should help trigger M&A activity during the second half of 2013, according to PwC's U.S. retail and consumer deals insights second quarter 2013 report.