Research Topic

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Shoppers who were out in full force on Black Friday may not walk retail aisles again until just before Christmas — when retailers are expected to heavily discount merchandise — according to the latest America's Research Group/UBS "Christmas Forecast."

New York City -- New shopping apps, mobile technologies and social media rewards are moving buying decisions back into the stores, according to WSL/Strategic Retail. The finding are part of the company’s Buzz to Buy 2.0 trend report, its second annual survey measuring how the power of Social Media and online information are impacting buying decisions.

Seattle -- The combined store count of the four national dollar store (or extreme value) chains — Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only — has now surpassed that of the three biggest national drugstore chains (Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid), according to a new report  by Colliers International, the third-largest commercial real estate services company in the world.

Reston, Va. -- Retail e-commerce spending for the first 32 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season totaled $18.7 billion, a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported that for November same-store sales rose 1.8% while total sales climbed 4.2% to $6.09 billion, from $5.84 billion in the year-ago period.

Comparable pharmacy sales rose 1.2%, while total pharmacy sales rose 3.4%.

Total sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended Nov. 30, were $18.16 billion, up 4.7% from $17.34 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Same-store sales increased 2.5%, while front-end comp-sales for the quarter also increased 2.5%.
 

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. reported that its fiscal third-quarter net rose 34% to $171.2 million on higher sales. The results beat Wall Street expectations and the discounter boosted its full-year earnings guidance

Revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 28, 2011, increased 12% to $3.6 billion from $3.22 billion, topping Wall Street's estimate. Same-store sales rose 6.3% as customer traffic improved and the average transaction amount rose.

Walmart prices are lower than dollar store competitors in two New Jersey markets, but not by much, according to a recent survey conducted by Deutsche Bank.

All retailers are taking price increases where they can these days, especially in food, but the pace of increases at Walmart has slowed, and its price gap relative to most competitors has widened, according to the most recent pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse.

CHICAGO — While retail sales during the Black Friday weekend increased this year, it seems that foot traffic may have dropped, according to a new report by ShopperTrak.

Chicago -- More customers shopped the Sunday before Thanksgiving than the days following Black Friday, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of retail and mall foot-traffic counting services.