Data & Analytics

Waldorf, Germany -- Black Friday social mentions more than doubled those of Cyber Monday this year. But a new infographic from SAP shows that consumers felt the most excited and happy about Cyber Monday.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores reported mostly negative financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2013. Net earnings fell about 12% to $7.69 million, from $8.76 million.

A 2% decrease in same-store sales and unfavorable calendar shift due to the 53rd week in fiscal 2012 offset slight growth in net sales to $561.1 million from $556.9 million.

Nashville, Tenn. – Genesco’s net earnings fell 34% to $27.7 million, from $42.1 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 for Genesco. The company also reported a slight increase in net sales, to $666.3 million from $664.4 million, during the same period.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation estimated that the retail industry added 13,500 jobs in November, and 268,500 year-over-year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation report showed that November total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 203,000, with the unemployment rate at 7%.

Columbus, Ohio – Big Lots reported a net loss of $9.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2013, up from a net loss of about $6 million in the year-ago period. The retailer also said it will exit the unprofitable Canadian market, which it entered through an acquisition in 2011.

Net sales grew about 2% in the same period, to $1.15 billion from $1.13 billion, and consolidated same-store sales declined about 2.5%.

Washington, D.C. -- The retail industry will lose an estimated $8.76 billion to return fraud this year, and $3.39 billion during the holiday season alone, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2013 Return Fraud Survey. Overall, 5.8% of holiday returns are fraudulent, up slightly from 4.6% last year.

Specialty retailer Five Below offered a somewhat muted outlook for holiday sales despite posting impressive growth in third-quarter same-store sales and achieving record expansion in 2013.

The company has opened 60 new stores this year and its same-store sales grew 9% during the period ended Nov. 2. Of the new stores opened this year, 28 came online during the third quarter and 11 of those were in Dallas, a new market for the rapidly expanding company.

Eight months into his role as CEO and with a new merchandising organization in place, David Campisi is following a familiar blueprint to reinvigorate the performance of Big Lots — making hard choices to streamline operations, implementing new merchandising strategies and lowering near-term expectations.

Genesco, the company behind Lids and Journeys, is the latest company to express concern about the holiday season and lower fourth-quarter expectations after producing a solid third-quarter performance.

Black Friday social mentions more than doubled those of Cyber Monday this year. But a new infographic from SAP shows that consumers felt the most excited and happy about Cyber Monday.