TD Bank

Retailers are bullish on 2018, but they remain worried about online competition.

Planning is underway for Chain Store Age’s 54th annual SPECS conference, which will be held March 18-20, 2018, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine (Dallas), Texas. The event will have attendees that are retail and foodservice executives involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of stores and restaurants nationwide.

Chain Store Age announced the selection of the Advisory Board for SPECS/2018, the annual retail event produced by CSA and attended by retail and food-service executives who plan, design, build, and maintain stores and restaurants nationwide.     Now in its 54th year, SPECS will host its 2018 conference in Dallas, at the Gaylord Texan, March 18-20. The event will focus on what’s next, and what is shaping the future of physical retail.  

Much like 2016, the first quarter of 2017 has seen a slow start to consumer spending. However, just like last year, this is expected to be a temporary setback. Strong consumer confidence and income growth have set the stage for a spending bounce back in the second quarter.   

Retailers executives are bullish on 2017.   That’s according to a survey from TD Bank, which polled 173 retail executives at the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show in New York City. Seventy-four percent of the retailers said they believe sales will increase in the next 12 months. What’s more, 81% of the retailers reported that they met or exceeded their revenue goals in 2016.   In other key findings:  

Chain Store Age announced the selection of the Advisory Board for SPECS/2017, the annual retail event for store innovation produced by CSA and attended by retail and food-service executives involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of stores and restaurants nationwide.     Now in its 53rd year, SPECS will host its 2017 conference in Orlando, Florida, at the Gaylord Palms, March 12-14. The event will focus on what’s next, and what is shaping the future of retail.  

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group announced that Andrew Turf, a high street luxury retail real estate expert, will join the company’s Retail Services team as senior VP. Turf will also act as tenant representative on the West Coast and beyond and collaborate with capital markets teams on a variety of real estate projects.

Data security, systems upgrades and healthcare reform rank among the top concerns for corporate financial decision makers.

That’s among the key findings of a survey by TD Bank, which also reveals that CFOs plan to significantly increase their company's capital spending in 2016. Respondents cited three main keys areas of capital spending for 2016: technology (58%), existing facilities (44%) and data security (41%.

The Samsung Pay mobile payment solution had a good first four weeks in the U.S.

According to data released by Samsung Electronics, U.S. consumers who have paid with Samsung Pay so far have executed an average of eight transactions each.

In a week in which many of the nation's major department stores reported disappointing financial results, Nordstrom showed once again how to drive sales growth.

The Washington-based retailer reported that total sales rose 9.2% from the same quarter in 2014, while same store sales rose 4.9%. The company posted a profit of $211 million, or $1.09 a share, compared with $183 million, or 95 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue, which includes revenue from its credit cards, rose 9% to $3.7 billion.