Research Topic

Walmart’s integrity suffered a blow this week in a Bloomberg piece with the inflammatory headline, “How Walmart made its crumbling China business look so good for so long.”

Corte Madera, Calif. – Restoraton Hardware Holdings Inc. (RH) beat Wall Street forecasts with net income of $19.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, more than double net income of $9.5 million in the same period a year earlier.  

University of Arkansas alumni Ann and Gene Bordelon have contributed $100,000 to establish the Faculty Innovation Endowed Fund for the benefit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

New York - Fifty-one percent of consumers say saving money is their top priority this holiday season, and  40% are driven by finding the right product. Those are among the findings of a recent survey conducted by RSR.  

By Craig Johnson, Customer Growth Partners

Washington, D.C. – Retail sales showed slow but steady growth during November 2014. According to the National Retail Federation, retail sales, not including automobiles, gasoline stations or restaurants, increased 0.6% seasonally-adjusted from October and 3.2% unadjusted from November 2013.  The increases were in line with NRF’s holiday sales forecast, which anticipates an increase of 4.1% from 2013.   

Purchase, N.Y. – A decline in the price of gasoline may be leading to a larger haul for many many people on Christmas morning. According to the latest MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, total retail sales without the automotive and gasoline sectors were up 3.6% in November 2014, reinforcing the dramatic decline in gasoline prices.  

Petaluma, Calif. – During the second week of the holiday shopping season (Dec. 1-7), smartphone and tablet shoppers were especially generous spenders. According to data compiled by e-commerce software provider MarketLive, year-over-year online revenue generated by consumers using smartphones grew 107%, or slightly more than double.