Home Depot

Morrisville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Cos. Inc. said Monday it has withdrawn its bid to purchase Canadian home-improvement retailer Rona Inc.

The $1.86 billion unsolicited acquisition proposal had earlier been rejected by Quebec-based Rona, which said the offer was not the best deal for its shareholders. The proposal generated discord among Rona’s dealer companies, many of whom threatened to sever their ties with Rona should Lowe’s succeed in its acquisition attempt.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot Inc. said Friday it will close its remaining seven big-box outlets in China and focus on Internet-based sales and specialty stores.

The Home Depot will close its remaining seven big box stores in China, the company announced late yesterday, in order to shift its focus to specialty stores and online offerings in that market.

New York -- There is a new opportunity for retailers to market beyond the technology savvy and often male consumer pool to a larger group of less technology informed with customer service programs that provide basic device educational training around devices and product bundling to ease the buying experience,  according to a survey by Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG).

Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s posted declines in net sales, comp-store sales and earnings in the second quarter ended Aug. 3.

“Our results fell short of our overall expectations,” said Robert Niblock, Lowe’s chairman, president and CEO. “However, I have confidence in our strategy and in our employees, and while we recognize the significant magnitude of change that we’ve asked the organization to absorb as we transform our business, we fully understand that we must improve our level of execution.”

Home Depot Tuesday reported sales of $20.6 billion for the second quarter of 2012, a 1.7% increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Comparable sales for U.S. stores were positive 2.6%, and overall same-store sales for the second quarter were positive 2.1%.

Net earnings for the world’s largest home improvement retailer were $1.53 billion for the second quarter, which ended July 29. This compares with net earnings of $1.36 billion in the same period a year ago, reflecting a 12.4% increase.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot reported Tuesday that profit for the second quarter rose to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion in the same quarter last year.

Sales edged up 1.7% to $20.6 billion, and same-store sales climbed 2.1% overall and 2.6% in the U.S.

"As expected, second-quarter sales reflected the pull forward of seasonal activity into the first quarter," said Frank Blake, Home Depot chairman and CEO. "But we saw continued demand for core products and delivered second-quarter earnings above our expectations."

With the start of Back to School promotions, (and taking JCPenney out of the mix) we witnessed increase in page count that was driven mainly by significant increases in Walmart’s and Sears’ page counts.

JCPenney has been drastically altering their promotional strategy in past couple of months, however this month, the store did not promote at all, causing curiosity for many customers. (It should be noted that JCPenney did release circulars the week of July 29th that will be counted in the August report.)