Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Jacksonville, Fla. — A new report from Acosta Sales and Marketing reveals that consumers at all income levels consider price before making a purchase, showing that economic concerns affect everyone.

Early indications are it will be a solid year for Back-to-School sales and that’s good news for Walmart. The company typically enjoys healthy seasonal sales, but this year it will be facing more challenging sales comparisons during the back half of the year as it begins lapping prior year same store sales increases. Click here.
 

Union, N.J. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. reported Thursday that net income rose 14.5% to $206.8 million, compared with $180.6 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased 5.1% to $2.22 billion from the year-earlier quarter, missing Wall Street’s projected $2.25 billion in revenue. Same-store sales rose 3%.

CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble has issued more conservative guidance for its quarter ending in June and unveiled preliminary guidance for fiscal year 2013.

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Conference in Paris, P&G board chairman, president and CEO Bob McDonald said, "We are making the necessary adjustments to our growth strategy to increase focus on our core business and to achieve more balanced growth across geographies, product categories and the top and bottom lines."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Stein Mart shareholders have re-elected the following people to the company's board of directors:

Jay Stein, Ralph Alexander, Alvin R. Carpenter, Irwin Cohen, Susan Falk, Linda M. Farthing, Mitchell W. Legler, Robert L. Mettler, Richard L. Sisisky, Martin E. Stein, Jr. and John H. Williams, Jr. Each will serve one year terms

LOS ANGELES — Nearly half of U.S. shoppers plan to spend more this back-to-school shopping season than in 2011, according to the latest PriceGrabber survey.

Pooling responses from 4,450 U.S. online shopping consumers, with 1,509 of the respondents planning to shop this back-to-school season, 46% said they plan to spend more this year that in 2011, while 35% said they plan to spend the same amount (compared with 52% that expressed this sentiment in 2011) and 19% are looking to spend less this year (compared with 35% in 2011).

New York -- School is just ending in some areas of the Northeast, and already the first back-to-school shopping survey has been released. The survey, by online shopping site PriceGrabber, reveals that nearly half (46%) of consumers are planning to spend more this back-to-school shopping season than in 2011. In comparison, only 13% of shoppers planned to spend more last year, and this data was reflected in an overall disappointing back-to-school season for retailers in 2011.

London -- A report issued by C.B. Richard Ellis on Friday said that global shopping center development has reached unprecedented levels of construction and new openings, fueled by growing middle classes and retailer expansion.

According to the most recent research by CBRE, which measured shopping center development activity in 180 of the world’s major cities – including 2011 completions and space currently under construction – 318.6 million sq. ft. is currently under construction and about 84 million sq. ft. opened in 2011.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that the cost of living in the U.S. dropped in May by the most in three years.

The consumer-price index declined 0.3%, more than forecast and the biggest drop since December 2008, after no change the prior month.

Economists projected a 0.2% decrease, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The core measure, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.2% for a third month.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp. said Thursday it has acquired partner Controladora Comercial Mexicana’s 50% share interest in Costco Mexico for approximately $760 million, funded by dividend proceeds, cash and investment balances.

The Costco México joint venture has been 50% owned by each of Costco Wholesale and CCM and operated by Costco Wholesale. :

Jaime Gonzalez Solana will continue as CEO of Costco México.