Winter Holidays

A record number of openings in 2014 pushed 99 Cents Only close to the 400 unit mark, but the rapid pace of expansion did not translate to profitability during what the company called a transformative year.

Portland, Ore. – Opt-in rates among consumers for push notifications from retail apps are on the decline. A new study from Urban Airship shows that average opt-in rates for retail apps fell to 37% in 2014, compared to 46% in 2013.

In 2014, retail apps doubled their notification send volume on the key shopping days of Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and consumer response rates also doubled, despite the majority of those notifications being general sales promotions sent to all users.

Leading department store retailer Nordstrom has developed a unique approach to community giving by returning 1% of gift card sales to local nonprofit groups.

Nordstrom will use funds from gift card sales to support two giving programs: Nordstrom-directed corporate contributions and a newly-launched Employee Charitable Match program. For more than 40 years, Nordstrom selects hundreds of organizations to receive cash grants.

San Jose, Calif. – Despite declining store traffic during March 2015, retailers benefited from increased sales per shopper (SPS), average transaction value (ATV) and conversion rates. According to the March 2015 RetailNext Retail Performance Pulse, SPS grew 5.8% compared to the same month a year earlier, perhaps reflecting pent-up consumer demand after a difficult winter.

In addition, ATV grew 3.5% and conversions increased 0.9%, further suggesting consumers who visited stores were looking to make purchases. Returns stayed flat.

An early Easter helped Stein Mart post an impressive 7.9% boost in same store sales for the first quarter.

Stein Mart reported sales of $244.4 million for the nine weeks ending April 4, a 10.6% increase over that period the year before. The sales growth was especially strong in March, according to the release.

The company reported $155.8 million in sales for the five weeks ending April 4, a 14.2% increase over that time the year before. Same store sales were up 11.2% for March. 

After reporting standout results for the holiday quarter, Costco had a drop in same store sales in March that the retailer blamed on the earlier-than-normal Easter holiday.

Matthews, N.C. – Profits slid at Family Dollar Stores Inc. during the second quarter of fiscal 2015 compared to last year, but still beat Wall Street predictions. The discounter reported net income of $76.7 million, down 18% from $90.9 million.

Cold weather in February caused profits to slide at Family Dollar Stores Inc. ahead of its impending merger with Dollar Tree.