Consumer Attitudes & Behavior

CORTE MADERA, Calif. — Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. reported Friday a loss of $28.4 million for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with a profit of $24 million in the year-ago period. Results, impacted by costs associated with the company’s November 2012 IPO, edged analysts’ expectations.

Revenue surged 30% to $398.1 million from $305.2 million last year, beating Wall Street’s forecast of $390.5 million. Same-store sales advanced a hefty 26%.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald's Corp. reported Friday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 rose about 1% to $1.27 billion, from $1.26 billion last year. Total revenue also rose 1%, to $6.6 billion from $6.5 billion.

Same-store sales dipped, however, impacted said McDonald’s by a tightened eating-out environment during the quarter.

At home, same-store sales dipped 1.2%.

Boston -- Research findings released Thursday by mobile-retail marketer Swirl found that a full 76% of women prefer shopping in stores over shopping via their smartphones.

“What Women Want When Apparel Shopping,” which polled 1,000 women shoppers, also revealed that 53% of women have between one and five shopping apps on their smartphones. Yet, still, they opt for the store experience.

A Web site affiliated with noted television investment pundit Jim Cramer has reiterated its buy recommendation on shares of Walmart.

TheStreet.com rated Walmart A+ and said the company’s strengths can be seen in areas such as revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and net income.

"We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow," according to the TheStreet.

Target may not cater to exactly the same shopper as Walmart, but there is enough overlap between the two companies to know that reports of weakness out of Minneapolis are never a good sign in Bentonville.

London -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that retail sales in the U.K. fell a more-than-expected 0.8% (excluding fuel) in March compared to February, impacted by unseasonably cold weather and a still-sluggish economy.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — According to research conducted by Unilever's Dove brand, the way women depict themselves is dramatically different from how others perceive them.

New York -- Survey results released Tuesday by Analytic Partners found that 48% of people between the ages of 18-44 feel that any loyalty they have toward brands in the future will have to stem from the types of experiences the brands create for them.

The experience includes interaction such as video/online gaming, social media and third-party expert information through blogs and articles.