Data & Analytics

Costco Wholesale Corp. exceeded Wall Street expectations with improved net earnings in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.
 
Net income for the quarter totaled a better-than-expected $545 million, up 6% from $516 million the prior-year period.

Net sales increased 2% to $26.15 billion, just short of forecasts, and up from $25.52 billion last year.

Over the last 12 annual trips I’ve made to Las Vegas for ICSC’s RECon real estate convention (which officially makes me a rookie in this industry of 20-, 30- and 40+-year veterans), I have always been able to detect some distinct trends.  

That doesn’t as much make me a trend-watcher as it does a good listener.  The retailers and shopping center operators and brokers who attend RECon each year tend to talk avidly in the aisles about the current events shaping the retail real estate industry.

From hyperlocal social media intelligence to mobile survey creation, this month’s crop of startups is filling niche spaces that can have a big impact on a retailer’s business. Learn about an augmented reality platform that’s elevating the online experience, a social referral startup that makes it easy to spread rewarding word-of-mouth recommendations and an analytics company that helps retailers and CPG companies get the most out of their online and transaction-level customer data.

SurveyMe

Feeling the heat from an activist inventory, Chico's FAS Inc. will increase its cost-cutting efforts on the heels of a disappointing first quarter.
    
The women’s apparel retailer reported a profit of $31.1 million, or 23 cents a share, for the quarter ended April 30, down from $32.5 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring-related charges and other items, adjusted per-share earnings fell to 25 cents from 30 cents.

The nation’s top two extreme-value discounters aren’t feeling the retail malaise that affected department stores and many specialty retailers in the first quarter.  

At a time when the world of commercial real estate continues to evolve in new and different directions, many traditional malls find themselves at crossroads. To survive, mall owners and operators must make significant and sometimes dramatic changes in order to remain commercially relevant and financially viable.
 

For anyone looking at the current state of retail in the Midwest, one of the most fascinating things to track is how some of the macro trends we see in the marketplace today are the end result of years (sometimes decades) of evolutionary change.
 

Ikea has broken ground for its second store in Ohio.

The new Ikea will open in summer 2017. The 355,000-sq.-ft. store is being built on 33 acres at the northeastern corner of Interstate-71 and Gemini Place in the Polaris Centers of Commerce development, approximately 15 miles north of downtown Columbus.

The retailer has contracted with Pepper Construction to build the project. The chain also will evaluate potential on-site power generation to complement its current U.S. renewable energy presence at nearly 90% of its U.S. locations.
 

As Sears Holdings Corp. continues to struggle to turn its business around, the chain announced it is exploring ways to expand distribution of its key brands outside its own stores. The troubled retailer also announced its CFO is leaving.

Sears lost $471 million in its first quarter, ended April 30, compared with $303 million in the year-ago period. Loss per share came to $4.41, or $1.86 adjusted for certain items. Analysts estimated a loss of $3.20 per share.

Two events converged by 2010 that fundamentally changed how consumers shop and how retailers sell.
 
The first was that the world was enmeshed in a deep recession triggered by the collapse of financial markets in 2008. The second was that the world was going through a refresh cycle for consumer mobile phones. What happened next rocked the retail industry.