Research Topic

Chicago -- High-income consumers think warehouse club products are on a par with leading brands, according to new research from Mintel. Indeed, 38% believe store brand or private label brands at warehouse clubs are comparable to name brand items in terms of quality — a number that increases to 44% of households earning $150K+. That's the highest percentage of all income groups surveyed, compared to 27% of those earning less than $25K, 36% of those earning $50-$74.9K and 41% of those with incomes between $100-$149.9K.  

Randolph, N.J. -- Retailers are behind Amazon in analytics maturity, according to a new research report from EKN Research. Eighty percent of retailers say they are behind Amazon in analytics maturity, and 71% of retailers perform either basic analytics reporting or none at all – revealing retailers’ inability to take advantage of the data that is available to them.
 

Retail sales generally improved in June, helped by good weather and big discounts as retailers look to clear inventory for the back-to-school season.
 
Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 6% increase in June same-store sales, helped by higher fuel prices. Its results topped Wall Street estimates.

Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates and gasoline prices, Costco’s same-store sales increased 6% for the five-week period ended July 6. The metric rose 5% in the United States and 7% overseas.  

Westlake Village, Calif. -- Hhgregg ranks highest in appliance retailer customer satisfaction, followed by Lowe’s, according to the J.D. Power 2014 Appliance Retailer Satisfaction Study. The survey found that a knowledgeable sales staff providing a prompt, courteous and engaging customer service experience helps drive satisfaction with home appliance retailer.

Lumber Liquidators doesn’t report its second-quarter results until July 31. But reduced customer traffic along with weak macroeconomic trends related to residential remodeling and a drop in home sales have prompted the company to revisit its outlook for the quarter and full year.

The company’s net sales for the quarter increased 2.3% to $263.1 million, from $257.1 million in the prior-year quarter. At comparable stores, however, net sales decreased 7.1% for the quarter, in comparison to an increase of 14.9% for the second quarter of the prior year.  

San Francisco - Shopper traffic declined 9% in June, compared to the same month the previous year, as vacations, holidays, and record-breaking World Cup viewership cannibalized time spent on shopping-related activities. According to data from in-store analytics provider Euclid, despite the reduced traffic, high levels of consumer confidence boosted shoppers’ spending habits with .2% growth year-over-year in general merchandise, apparel, furniture and other (GAFO) retail sales

Austin, Texas – Thirty-five percent of consumers would stop shopping at a store where their data was hacked. According to a recent survey of almost 2,000 consumers by software consulting firm Software Advice, another 22% would be much less willing to shop there.

Though sales were up 3% and income increased 1% for WD-40 Company in the third quarter, shares for the lubricants and cleaner supplier were down more than 6% Thursday morning after management narrowed the full-year guidance.

Net sales for the quarter came in at $95.7 million, up from $93.1 million in the same quarter last year. This was largely carried by sales of multi-purpose maintenance products; sales of homecare and cleaning products decreased 1%.