Research Topic

New York City -- Chain Store Age is conducting a brief survey designed to take retailers' "new" media temperature. Together with shopping center owner Forest City Enterprises and research firm Alexander Babbage, Chain Store Age is surveying our retail readership to find out what retailers nationwide are doing in terms of social, mobile and other digital media initiatives.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Strong private brand performance and smarter expense management helped Kohl's deliver a hefty earnings increase and respectable sales growth for its second quarter.

The company reported second quarter diluted earnings per share increased 30% to $1.09. Net income for the quarter was $303 million, compared with $260 million (84 cents per diluted share) a year ago. Net sales were $4.2 billion, an increase of 3.6% over the comparable prior year quarter. Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 1.9%.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Family Dollar opened its 7,000th store Thursday, further cementing the dollar-store channel as an area of rapid growth.

The store is located in Memphis, Tenn., and features a green building design and a spacious layout for an optimal shopping experience, the company reported. 

To commemorate the opening of its 7,000th store in Memphis, Family Dollar completed the celebration with the $7,000 donation to the Mid-South Food Bank, along with cans of food donated by members of the local community. 

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Parents will spend more on apparel for this school year versus last year, a new survey from Sears and BlogHer, a network of women social media leaders, revealed. 

Walmart’s policy of prohibiting employees from accepting the smallest of gratuities has been in place for a long time and for good reason. Veterans of the company will tell you that early on it was a key driver of success because there was a time when the retail industry was rife with merchants who tended to make buying decisions that were in their best interest as opposed to those of customers.

The ongoing emphasis on expense reduction and every day low prices saw Walmart curtail its promotional activity during July, according to the last monthly report from Market Track examining promotional activity at the nation’s leading retailers. Click here to see results for the nation’s top 15 retailers.

Purchase, N.Y. -- A report released Thursday by MasterCard Advisors said that total retail sales in July sustained momentum despite inconsistencies in other areas of the economy.

According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks national retail and service sales, excluding auto sales retail sales in July 2011 grew by 8.7% year-over-year. 

Retail sales are on par with the average growth of the previous three months.

New York City -- When it comes to coupons, consumers still rely on the Sunday newspaper. According to consumer and media measurement firm Scarborough Research, coupon usage for household items is up 24% since 2006, with Sunday newspaper inserts ranking as the leading (49%) source for coupons, followed by in-store coupons (43%), direct mailings (33%), in-store circulars (26%), and preferred customer/loyalty card (24). And some one-fifth (22%) of consumers are utilizing digital media such as email, text messaging or Internet sites to get their household coupons,

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores reported that its consolidated net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was $17.7 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with $16.8 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, for the prior year.

Overall, there was an 8 % decline in the number of pages per market across the retailer set, and a 4% decline in number of inserts. Pages being down can be attributed to a steep decline in Kohl’s and Sears' number of pages per market, while the decline in number of inserts was due to Home Depot and Staples decreasing their drops.

Home Depot and Safeway adopted a similar strategy, reducing the number inserts per market in July 2011 compared with last year, while increasing the number of pages per market.