Data & Analytics

Teen and tween retailer Five Below blamed the weather for what it expects will be a substantial shortfall in fourth quarter same store sales.

For the nine week period ended Jan. 9, same store sales had declined 0.5% and by the end of the company’s fourth quarter same store sales may decline as much as 1.5%, according to the company. That is well below guidance of a 4% increase the company forecast when it released third quarter results.

The nightmare continued for Target on Friday as worse than expected fourth quarter same store sales prompted the company to slash its profit forecast while it made troubling new disclosures about the theft of information involving 70 million customers.

With the surge in smartphone and tablet purchases in recent years, and the increasing accessibility of Wi-Fi, there is no surprise that almost 70% of consumers are now shopping online as well as in stores. Among those leading the trend are millennials (ages 18–33) making $75,000 or more a year.

Jewelry retailers had mixed sales results during the crucial holiday period.

Tiffany & Co. reported that worldwide net sales in the two months ended Dec. 31 increased 4% to $1.03 billion. Total sales in the Americas region rose 6% to $550 million.

Same-store sales rose 7% due to broad-based sales growth across most of the region. Tiffany is now offering guidance of earnings per diluted share expected to be in a range of $1.27-$1.37 for the fiscal 2013 ending January 31, 2014.

A majority of consumers find point-of-sale (POS) prompts, such as discount alerts on their mobile devices an invasion of their privacy, according to a recent website poll from CompuCom.

Respondents were asked, “Do you find point-of-sale technology prompts, such as a customized alert for discounts upon entering a store.” Sixty-three percent said it is Big Brother-ish/intrusive while 37% said it is helpful and cool.

The poll collected 307 responses from IT professionals across multiple industries from Nov. 16, 2013 through Dec. 17, 2013.

With a new year come new challenges and opportunities. As consumer patterns continue to evolve, so must retailers and their supply chain operations, influenced by technological advancements and other external factors. Coming off a modestly successful holiday shopping season, retailers are geared up for 2014 and prepared to address what promise to be the top five challenges of 2014.

Omnichannel

The search is on for a new president and COO at Family Dollar following the resignation of Michael Bloom amid deteriorating financial results and a 3% same store sales decline in December.

Women’s apparel retailer Cato has made its debut into the world of online shopping with the launch of its first ever e-commerce site. The announcement came as the retailer reported holiday sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 4.
 
Founded in 1946, Cato operates approximately 1,100 apparel and accessories specialty stores throughout the United States. With so many brick-and-mortar locations, the ability to supplement in-store inventory with an e-commerce strategy geared toward a new generation of connected shoppers became crucial for continued growth.