Data & Analytics

PHILADELPHIA — Urban Outfitters’ second-quarter net income jumped to $76 million for the three months ended July 31, 2013.

Total company net sales for the second quarter increased 12% to a record $759 million. Same—store sales, including the company’s direct-to-consumer channel, increased 9%.

Comparable retail segment net sales increased 38% at Free People, 9% at Anthropologie and 5% at Urban Outfitters. Wholesale segment net sales rose 17%.

New York -- Saks Inc. on Monday reported a worse than expected second-quarter loss amid disappointing sales of shoes and handbags. 

Saks, which last month reached a deal to be acquired by Canada's Hudson's Bay Co., had a net loss of $19.6 million for the quarter ended Aug. 3, compared with a net loss of $12.3 million a year earlier.

Overall sales rose 0.5% to $707.8 million for the quarter. Same-store sales rose 1.5%, below the 4.5% increase analysts had expected.

Los Angeles -- A new survey by PriceGrabber confirms that consumers are determined to think frugally when shopping for back-to-school this year, with 57% of respondents saying they will attempt to buy more items that are "on sale," while 42% say they will comparison shop for the best price. 

Staten Island, N.Y. -- The Shoe Gallery has stepped up inventory control with the help of Celerant Technology Corp. The chain has been using Celerant’s real-time, retail management system, Command Retail, to manage all areas of its retail operation for the past seven years. 

It is also using the supplier’s Style Matrix tool, a three-dimensional graphical representation of all the SKUs by size, width, and color, to improve operational efficiency.

Park City Group, a leading consumer goods supply chain technology designed to increase sales and reduce out-of-stocks, has added private-label marketing veteran William Wolfe to its leadership team.  

Wolfe, who has more than 30 years of experience, will serve as a senior adviser, responsible for developing business solutions, consulting and expanding sales efforts in the retail channel.

CHICAGO — With an eye on new growth opportunities, Tommy Bahama has selected the Hybris commerce platform to improve its omnichannel commerce capabilities.

A leading retailer of island-inspired apparel and home furnishings, Tommy Bahama has seen growth in it online commerce throughout the past few years. Tommy Bahama also offers in-store kiosks, where shoppers can access a commerce channel that enables an "endless aisle" of available products —allowing shoppers to access out-of-stock or online-exclusive items directly in-store.

LOS ANGELES — Young gamers will have something to smile about now that Virtual Piggy is providing its youth-friendly payment system to Marvelous USA, Inc., the U.S.-based publishing operation of MarvelousAQL Inc.

I recently had the chance to observe and talk with some tweens and teens about their smartphone use. You guessed it: it’s first and foremost about communicating with their friends and, yes, even with parents and other family members. Shopping runs a good second. Anyone targeting this particular age group must think of communication as a “use case” for smartphones. 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples is generating traffic to its brick-and-mortar stores with its ink and toner cartridge recycling program. Since 2005, it has recycled 350 million ink and toner cartridges, averaging more than 60 million cartridges per year for the past three years. 

New York -- Wall Street is reacting to Jos. A. Bank’s news that it is cutting its second-quarter profit and sales outlook, sending shares spiraling downward.

Company CEO R. Neal Black said, “While our total sales declined in Q2, we achieved stability in our gross profit margin rate. Customers did not respond as well to some of our highly promotional, high sales volume marketing campaigns as they did in the prior year.”

Total sales declined 11% in the second quarter.