Retailer Intelligence

Amazon continues to grab consumer wallet share, but Walmart is holding its own in some markets.

Retail stocks will be among the big winners of the tax overhaul.

Higher customer spending and lower costs help drive better-than-expected fourth quarter sales and profit at Dollar Tree.   The discounter’s solid quarterly performance capped a year in which it opened 584 new stores and exceeded $20 billion in sales.    Dollar Tree reported net sales of $5.64 billion for the quarter ended Jan. 28, up 5.0% from $5.37 billion in the year-ago period.  

Did Walmart's $3.3 billion acquisition of e-tail startup Jet — the largest buyout in American e-commerce history — help it this holiday season?     A new report from Ugam finds Walmart's first holiday season following its acquisition of Jet.com last summer saw fewer out-of-stocks, but that the chain still has room for improvement on pricing and assortment.  

Big Lots Inc. isn’t letting soft sales in the second quarter damper its outlook. Instead, the retailer raised its profit forecast for the year.   The discounter on Friday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $22.7 million, which surpassed analysts’ expectations, from $17.64 million in the year-ago period.   Revenue totaled $1.2 billion in the period, which missed Street forecasts. Same-store sales inched up 0.3%.  

Although it’s only August and the pendulum has plenty of time to swing in the other direction, retailers are feeling optimistic about the upcoming holiday season.   That’s according to a report by Fung Global Retail & Technology and First Insight, in which more than 60% of those surveyed said they believe that holiday sales will increase compared to last year, and about 25% expect sales to increase 5% to 10%.     

Market Track compared retail circular advertising in March 2016 vs. March 2015 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains.

Lowe’s Home Improvement had denser March print circulars with twice the ads per page and nearly 80 additional ads per drop. Lowe’s shifted the Spring Black Friday sale to the 3/31 drop; up from first week of May 2015.

Home depot did not counter this shift through print, but promoted Spring Black Friday on their website.

Since its launch in July, Jet.com is surpassing other retailers on gross merchandise value and doing a good job of building customer loyalty, according to Channeladvisor.

According to The Washington Post, Jet has had a 23% repeat buyer rate, better than the 17% seen at eBay and the 11% seen at Amazon during the same time period.

New York – Amazon.com provides a customer value proposition of convenience and the lowest prices. According to new analysis from managed analytics provider Ugam, competitors at least have a chance to beat Amazon on prices of some items.

Ugam conducted assortment intelligence analysis of two key sporting goods categories, identifying gaps in Amazon’s merchandising assortment and confirming that the retail giant doesn’t always have the lowest price on the most sought-after products.
 

New York -- The big spenders are at Costco.

People spent 149% more at Costco than at other retailers, according to mobile-location firm Placed, which linked store spending to tracked locations. Best Buy BJs, Sam's Club and Ikea also ranked high, Advertising Age reported.