News

Amazon knows Thanksgiving weekend shoppers are typically bargain hunters, yet the company became increasingly less price dynamic as the weekend wore on.    That’s according to an infographic from 360pi, which examined the promotional and pricing strategies of Amazon, Walmart and Target, among others, during Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.   

Retailers are doing a good job online when it comes to sales, but they are failing when it comes protecting sensitive shopper data.   All of the nation’s largest retailers had multiple issues with domain security, which increases the risk of hackers impersonating a retailer's site and falsifying a checkout form to obtain a user's credit card information, according to a report by security rating firm SecurityScoreboard that exposes cybersecurity vulnerabilities across 48 of the biggest U.S holiday retailers. 

The nation’s largest maternity clothing retailer failed to meet sales and earnings expectations in the third quarter amid changes designed to focus on its core operations.     Destination Maternity reported a net loss of $1.5 million in its fiscal third quarter.   On a per-share basis, the company said it had a loss of 11 cents. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 9 cents per share.   

While mobile commerce flexed its muscle during Cyber Week, desktop shoppers keep representing this holiday season — and in a strong way.  

Restoration Hardware reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the third quarter, but the upscale home furnishings retailer cut its full-year outlook amid slow sales of its holiday collection.    The company also said that its name will change in January to RH, which is the same as its stock ticker.   Restoration Hardware reported net income of $2.5 million. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 19 cents per share.  

A store transformed — that’s how Target refers to its Baton Rouge East (Louisiana) store which has re-opened its doors after sustaining massive damage from the floods that devastated the area in August.  

Costco Wholesale Corp. a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped partially by lower fees to credit card partner Visa.   Costco, which completed its switch to Visa from American Express during the fourth quarter, said net income rose to $545 million, or $1.24 per share, in the first quarter, ended Nov. 20, from $480 million, or $1.09 per share, in the year-ago period. (The retailer’s profit in the latest quarter included a $51 million gain from a legal settlement.)  

Consumers’ demand for stylish workout wear no shows on slowing down.        Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s sales rose 13% to $544.4 million, surpassing Wall Street estimates.   Total comparable sales, which includes comparable store sales and direct to consumer, increased by 7%. Same-store sales rose 4%.      Profit in the quarter was 47 cents a share, excluding some items. Analysts estimated 43 cents on average.    

President-elect Donald Trump will name Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, as labor secretary, according to several media reports.   Puzder, whose company operates the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s burger retail chains, has argued against raising the minimum wage to more than $9 per hour. He also has been an advocate of cutting back or eliminating regulations he claims have been a detriment to the restaurant industry and has been critical of the Affordable Care Act.  

When it comes to retail operating costs, energy is one of the top three expenses. Lighting is of course a component of this, accounting for 50% of energy costs for non-food retailers. Each square foot of a typical retail store costs roughly $0.71/SF/year – a cost that quickly adds up at the store and chain level.^{1, 2, 3}