Retail

Kroger has extended its streak of consecutive same-store sales growth to 40 quarters — an impressive feat in light of the slow economic recovery.
 
The company reported a same-store supermarket sales increase of 3.5%, excluding fuel, for the third quarter.

"The resiliency of our Customer First strategy … was on full display during the quarter, even as our internal research shows that customers remain uncertain about the economy," Dave Dillon, Kroger chairman and CEO said.

Lux Beauty Boutique is rolling out in-store mobile app SelfPay, which lets shoppers handle payment and look up product information on their own devices, enabling shopper-controlled in-store checkout from anywhere within a brick-and-mortar store. Lux Beauty Boutique will host a SelfPay launch party at its store on Dec. 6.  

Walmart chief marketing and merchandising officer Duncan Mac Naughton told investors during an October meeting that the retailer would have the largest share of voice during the holiday season and that was certainly evident during November, according to data released this week from Kantar Media Ad Intelligence and Placed.

A strong increase in shopper traffic at Costco during November translated to a 3% increase in same-store sales, excluding gas, at U.S. locations during the four-week November reporting period which ended December 1.

Costco didn’t comment specifically on Thanksgiving weekend sales during a recorded call to recap results, but the company did say that traffic increased a little more than 4% while average transaction sizes were down slightly. Costco and its direct competitors Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club were closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Canadian dollar-store operator Dollarama reported an increase in sales and an improvement in net earnings for the third quarter ended Nov. 3. The quarter was characterized by continued growth in the store network and solid comparable store sales growth.

Sales for the quarter increased by 14.2% to $522.9 million from $458 million in the year-ago period. The increase was driven, in part, by the growth in the number of stores in the past 12 months, from 761 stores on Oct. 28, 2012 to 847 stores on Nov. 3, 2013.

Jos. A. Bank slightly increased its net income to $13.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 from $13.3 million in the same period a year earlier. The retailer also saw its net sales grow about 6% to $247.5 million, from $232.8 million.

Same-store sales declined 0.1%, although direct marketing sales increased 23.5% and combined same-store and online sales increased 2.4%. Jos. A. Bank incurred $1.2 million of legal and professional expenses in connection with the company's bid to acquire The Men's Wearhouse.

This year's November had one additional Saturday and one fewer Thursday compared with November 2012. Despite these calendar shifts, Walgreens still saw comparable store sales climb for the month.

The company reported November sales of $6.1 billion, an increase of 4.1% compared to the same month last year. Total front-end sales increased 3.2%, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.9%. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.8% and basket size increased 1.1%.

Black Friday came early for Rakuten.com Shopping. The online marketplace saw a huge jump in visits to the site, consumer sales and conversion on and leading up to the biggest shopping day of the year.

Rakuten.com Shopping reported a rise in consumer sales and traffic beginning the Monday before the big sale days, with a spike on Thanksgiving Day and a crescendo at 10 a.m. PST on Black Friday.