Business Analytics

Weak sales made for a rough second quarter for Office Depot.   The retailer said its profit fell to $24 million, or 5 cents a share, short of Wall Street expectations, compared with $210 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-ago period. (The 2016 quarter included a $250 million fee paid by Staples to Office Depot after Staples abandoned its intent to acquire its rival.)  

Aldi has extended its partnership with Nielsen to gain more shopper and advertising effectiveness insight.    Nielsen and Aldi announced an expanded multi-year relationship for integrated analytics data around shopper panel, custom retail analytics and advertising effectiveness. Under the agreement, Nielsen will be Aldi's preferred data and analytics provider, covering the chains' nearly 1,700 stores in 35 states across the U.S.  

Costco Wholesale Corp. turned in a winning performance in July, fueled by strong traffic trends.   The company reported that its net sales in July rose 8.8% to $9.41 billion, compared to $8.65 billion during the similar period last year. Total company same-store sales rose 6.2%, with a 6.0% increase in the U.S. Excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total same-store sales rose 5.3%, and 5.5% in the U.S.   

L Brands, The Cato Corp., and The Buckle reported decreases in same-store sales, although one still managed to sound an upbeat note about its second quarter.   

Weis Markets saw its sales and income increase in its second quarter.      The company’s net income in the quarter totaled $18.5 million, a 21% increase over the year-ago period. Operating income rose 15.2% to $27.7 million, compared with $24.1 million in the same period last year.    Sales rose 20% to $876.6 million. Same-store sales rose 2.7%, after adjustment for the Easter holiday shift.   

Florida's largest supermarket chain on Tuesday reported higher sales and revenues for its second quarter. Prior to releasing its results, the company cut the price of its stock.   Publix’s sales in the second quarter rose 3.6% to $8.4 billion, from last year’s $8.1 billion. Same-store sales increased 1.6%.      Net earnings increased 3.5% to $495.1 million, compared to $478.2 million in the year-ago period.    

Sales per square foot are declining across the board. But some retailers continue to pull in hefty revenue.    The No. 1 retailer in terms of sales per square foot is Apple Inc., which does a staggering $5,546 per square foot, according to research provided by CoStar.    

Best Buy's Geek Squad is undergoing some changes.   The consumer electronics retailer is eliminating about 400 Geek Squad positions, the StarTribune reported. The affected jobs are on the Geek Squad’s covert team, employees who mostly work from their own homes to provide remote technical support. The work will be outsourced to a third party, according to the report.  

A jump in mobile ads and daily users contributed to another strong quarter for Facebook — one that also beat analyst expectations. For the second quarter ended June 30, total revenue rose 45% to $9.32 billion. This is a significant jump from $6.436 billion for the same period in 2016. Revenues for the quarter also beat analyst forecasts of $9.20 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. This is the ninth straight quarter that Facebook has exceeded analyst expectations.