Budgets/Spending/Market Size

NEW YORK — A growing number of shoppers are using their smartphones to help them make in-store purchases. According to new Deloitte research, smartphones currently influence 5.1% of annual retail store sales, translating into $159 billion in forecasted sales for 2012, according to new Deloitte research. 

Deloitte arrived at its 5.1% figure by examining in-store sales driven by consumers' store-related smartphone activity such as product research, price comparison or other mobile application use.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Consumers are feeling more positive about the overall economy and are growing more likely to make technology purchase, according to the latest CEA Index from the Consumer Electronics Association.

New Orleans — Despite reporting an uptick in organized retail crime, the National Retail Federation revealed that retail theft rates decreased in 2011, according to preliminary results of the organization's latest National Retail Security survey.

Online measurement firm comScore is out with its top 50 web properties report and Walmart.com must be doing something right judging from a surge in traffic.

Walmart.com was ranked 24th on the top 50 list for May with 42.4 million unique visitors, a 9% increase from the prior month when comScore showed Walmart.com had 38.8 million unique visitors in April. The gain in web traffic over the same month the prior year is even more substantial as Walmart.com registered a 26.2% increase from a May 2011 unique visitor total of 33.6 million.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced that it has completed a transaction to acquire 18 Open Pantry convenience store locations in Wisconsin, primarily in the greater Milwaukee and Madison markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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%.