Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald's Corp. reported Friday that global same-store sales decreased 1.9% in January, hurt by weakened performance outside the U.S.

By segment, comps in the U.S. rose 0.9%, but decreased 2.1% in Europe and dropped 9.5% in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
 
Systemwide sales for the month increased 0.3%, or 0.7% in constant currencies.

Reston, Va. -- A report released Thursday by comScore found that retail e-commerce sales in the U.S. rose to $186.2 billion in 2012, an increase of 15% and the strongest annual growth rate since before the recession.

Fourth quarter 2012 sales grew 14% year-over-year to $56.8 billion, marking the first-ever $50 billion quarter. It also represents the 13th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
 

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Thursday by PriceGrabber found that 62% of consumers plan to spend as much as $100 on gifts for Valentine’s Day, down from 68% in 2012. However, 36% plan to spend more than $100 compared with 28% last year.  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Limited Brands reported that comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter were up 5% and that net sales for the same period were $3.86 billion compared with $3.5 billion for the same period last year.

For the month of February, the company posted sales of $986.4 million compared with $774.5 million for the same period last year. Same-store sales for the month rose 9%. 

Austin, Texas -- Online coupon site RetailMeNot.com reported Thursday that men outspend women by more than $120 on Valentine’s Day gift giving.

According to the just-released results of the Valentine edition of RetailMeNot.com’s Shoppers Trend Report, the average person in a relationship plans to spend $226 for Valentine’s Day this year; the break-out is dominated by men, however, as they plan to spend $287 versus women at $164.

Online sales returned to pre-recession growth levels in 2012, advancing 15% to a record $186.2 billion, according to a year end recap by online measurement firm comScore.

Denton, Texas -- Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. reported Thursday that profit in the first quarter nearly doubled year-over-year – from $30.1 million to $59 million – but results still missed Wall Street expectations.

Revenue rose 4.7% to $905.4 million, shy of analysts’ expected $915.1 million in revenue.

Same-store sales rose 2.8%.

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores reported that net sales for the third quarter increased $35.6 million, or 8.8%, to $439.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to $403.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2012. Same-store sales increased 4.3%.