Seasonal

The National Retail Federation has joined the growing chorus of voices expecting a surge in consumer spending during the next five months to compensate for a weak start to the year.

Sales at Tractor Supply’s 1,331 stores topped $1.5 billion during the first quarter but decelerating comp store growth and cool spring weather weighed on profit growth.

Sales at the nation’s largest rural lifestyle retailer increased 8.8% to $1.58 billion from $1.46 billion while same store sales advanced 1.9% on top of a prior year gain of 7.2%. Profits during the company’s second quarter ended June 28 increased 8% to $133.4 million, or 95 cents a share, compared to $123.6 million, or 87 cents a share.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Almost nine-in-10 (88%) of consumers consider speed of delivery to be more important during the holiday season than at any other time of the year. According to the Holiday Fulfillment Report from CFI Group and EBay Enterprise that surveyed more than 500 consumers, 96% of respondents said guaranteed delivery dates are important when choosing which online retailer to purchase from.

GoJo Industries, the makers of Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer, have issued a challenge to consumers to adopt 30 days of healthy habits by joining the Purell Advanced 30-Day Challenge.
 

San Francisco -- Splunk Inc. announced that British retailer John Lewis is using Splunk Enterprise to deliver operational and customer insight across the retailer’s website.

Originally selected to search and alert on John Lewis’ IT infrastructure, Splunk Enterprise is now also used for digital intelligence through real-time analysis of data from e-commerce platforms to better understand purchasing trends, improve customer experience and drive higher conversion rates.

By David Rekuc, Marketing Director, Ripen E-commerce

It's three days before the Christmas party and you still don't have that Secret Santa gift for your cousin. You head to the perfume store, hoping for the right present to make up for a year of no calls and absent-minded Facebook likes. You find a gift and check the price online only to see it is 15 bucks cheaper. Do you make the online purchase and risk it getting delivered in time? Or walk out with a more expensive, but safer deal? This is the mindset of your typical holiday shopper.

Tractor Supply is scheduled to provide complete second-quarter results in just under two weeks. But the first half of the quarter was affected by bad weather, which caused softness in sales, particularly in seasonal merchandise, prompting the company to lower its full-year guidance.

Brentwood, Tenn. – Tractor Supply Co. reported sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 increased 8.8% to $1.58 billion, from $1.46 billion in second quarter 2013. This figure was slightly below consensus analyst estimates of $1.6 billion.

San Jose, Calif. - For the month of June, soccer-related searches across the U.S. sites of eight international sporting goods and apparel retailers increased by 280%, compared to May. According to analysis from SLI Systems, there were more than 2.2 million U.S. soccer-related product searches from these eight e-commerce sites alone, with a corresponding boost in online shopping behavior during June for products including soccer cleats, balls, shin guards, gloves and other equipment.

Yonkers, N.Y. - Forest City Ratner Companies, the developer and owner of Westchester’s Ridge Hill mall in Yonkers, New York, is adding an indoor skydiving facility, one of only 14 in the U.S.

IFly Indoor Skydiving will break ground this fall with an estimated completion date in early 2015.