Consumer Analytics

SAN DIEGO — Online fresh flowers retailer ProFlowers is launching a ProFlowers-branded store on eBay, extending its online reach.

The new ProFlowers eBay storefront features a broad assortment of fresh flowers, plants and product bundles including vases and chocolates, much like its existing online e-commerce site. Its eBay store also prominently features a “Deal of the Week” specially priced bouquet and vase.

Real estate solution and service providers aid retail real estate strategies

Real estate is a complex issue no matter what industry you’re in. For retailers, who typically operate on slim margins and are generally the first industry to feel the effects of variations in consumer spending, navigating the tricky waters of real estate can be especially challenging.

Von Maur got its start like many of its department store peers: An immigrant with an American dream opened a downtown store, customers came, they shopped, the brand took hold and took off.

In the case of the midwestern upscale department store banner Von Maur, the dreamer was German immigrant J.H.C. Petersen, who opened a downtown storefront in Davenport, Iowa, in 1872. He and his sons grew the business and sold it nearly a half-century later to a partnership that included two Austrian brothers — C.J. and Cable von Maur, whose family gained full ownership by 1937.

By Rana K. Williamson, PhD, Better Merchant Accounts

OMAHA, Neb. — Hayneedle, a leading online home furnishings retailer in the United States, will begin offering special, curated sales events from its independent flash sale site, the Foundary, at hayneedle.com starting May 6.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported April 2013 sales of $5.98 billion, up almost 4% from $5.76 billion in the same month a year earlier.
   
Despite declines in front-end sales, comparable front-end sales and customer traffic, slightly larger basket sizes and an almost 10% increase in comparable prescription fills helped boost overall sales.

Same-store sales increased 1.2% from April 2012.

New York -- Employees show increased levels of anxiety about their income, benefits and security, according to a new poll from Harris Interactive. Aggregated concern about these three issues rose from 56% in March to 57% in April.

With the breathtaking Twin Peaks of the Colorado Rockies as backdrop, a new project underway in Longmont, Colo., is leveraging both the views and community demand to create a “top drawer outdoor village experience,” said Allen Ginsborg, managing director and principal of NewMark Merrill Mountain States, based in Fort Collins, Colo.