Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

Philadelphia -- Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 at Destination Maternity Corporation decreased 0.3% to $134.8 million from $135.3 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Same-store sales slightly increased 0.7%.

Atlanta -- Landscaping is the most popular outdoor do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement New Year’s resolution project. According to a recent online survey of 540 homeowners by the Home Projects Council (HPC), homeowners selected landscaping (15.2%), planting a garden (13.5%) and building a deck (6.3%) as the top three outdoor DIY home improvement New Year’s resolution projects.

Just a couple of days after news that Barnes & Noble permanently closed its onetime flagship on Fifth Ave. in New York, the company reported a revenue decrease of 6.6% for the nine-week holiday period ending Dec. 28, 2013 in its retail segment.

The decrease over the prior year in the retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, was fueled by a 5.5% decline in comparable sales and store closures. Core comparable bookstore sales, which exclude sales of Nook products, decreased 0.2% as compared to the prior year.

Austin, Texas -- Shoppers with registered devices and retailer mobile apps made more store visits during the 2013 holiday season than during the previous year’s holiday season. According to data from mobile analytics provider Digby, mobile consumers made 29.6% more store visits during the 2013 holidays than in 2012.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney issued a brief statement on Wednesday saying that it was "pleased” with its performance for the holiday selling period, and reaffirmed its fourth quarter fiscal 2013 guidance for increased same-store sales. But the retailer did not provide any specific sales data.

Coppell, Texas – The Container Store Group Inc. saw its net income drop about 2%, to $5.2 million from $5.3 million, during the third quarter of fiscal 2013. This occurred while net sales grew 7.3%, to $188.3 million from $175.4 million, and same-store sales increased 4.7%.

Chicago -- Despite the shortened holiday season and extreme weather in many areas of the country in the weeks leading up to Christmas, retailers finished the 2013 holiday shopping season with increased sales. According to ShopperTrak, during the holiday shopping season of November and December 2013, national retail sales increased 2.7% and foot traffic decreased 14.6% when compared to the same two months of 2012.

Despite the short holiday season, December was still the biggest shopping month of the year.

Shopper traffic up more than one-third over November

J.C. Penney provided an ambiguous update on its holiday season performance, indicating it showed continued progress in its turnaround efforts and was “pleased” with its performance.

The company released a brief and vague statement Wednesday morning in which it noted, “customers responded well to the company’s offerings this holiday season, both in stores and online.”

Reston, Va. -- A total of $46.5 billion was spent online from desktop devices for the full November-December 2013 holiday season, an increase of 10% versus a year ago, according to comScore. While the total represents a record for online holiday spending and a double-digit gain from last year, it nevertheless fell short of comScore's forecasted 14% growth of $48.1 billion in desktop spending.