Seasonal

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma's strong holiday sales performance prompted the home-products retailer to lift its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings and revenue forecasts on Thursday.

Revenue climbed 10.5% to $865 million for the eight-week holiday period ending Dec. 26, 2010. Same-store sales rose 5%.

Armonk, N.Y. -- The U.S. online retail sector delivered double-digit growth in December 2010 compared with the same period last year, according to analytics-based findings by IBM. Online sales were up 12%, with consumers pushing the average order value up from $171.06 to $190.42 for an increase of 11.3%.

Dallas -- Zale Corp.’s same-store sales rose 8.5% during the November-December selling period. This figure is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it gauges results at existing stores instead of newly opened ones.

Zale is refocusing its merchandise on diamonds and stepping up training of its workers, said CEO Theo Killion in a Bloomberg report. The company increased the number of salespeople certified by the Diamond Council of America to 2,000, from 800 last year, and plans to add more, he said.

Despite December’s sales weakness, Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel confirmed the company’s fourth-quarter same-store sales forecast in the range of 2% to 4% and said January comps would be in the low- to mid-single digits.

It seemed like everything was going Target’s way after the company reported a 5.5% same-store sales increase during November, but then the revelation came last week of a 0.9% December comp increase and the wind came out of the company’s sales.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- A 2.3% same-store sales gain at Kmart was not enough to offset a 6% decline at Sears resulting in an overall 1.7% decline for the combined companies domestic operations during the five week December reporting period ended Jan. 1.

Chicago -- Year-over-year retail sales rose a solid 4% for the 2010 holiday shopping season (November/December), according to ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate.

Conversely, total U.S. foot traffic fell slightly below expectations as consumers continued the pattern retailers saw throughout 2010 of fewer mall and individual store visits with a larger spend. ShopperTrak’s revised holiday forecast called for a 1.8% traffic increase.

City of Commerce, Calif. -- Third-quarter sales growth was hard to come by at 99 Cents Only as the extreme value retailer’s heavy concentration of stores in Southern California were negatively affected by unseasonably strong rains that hit the region prior to Christmas.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Pier 1 Imports' same-store sales rose 10.3% in December, helped in part by more customers and higher average receipts. The company lifted its fourth quarter guidance.

Pier I used fewer promotions and clearance prices during the month than it did last year, said president and CEO Alex Smith in a statement.