News

California's drought disrupted 99 Cents Only Stores’ ability to continually stock “right-priced” produce, which affected the company’s overall financial results for the second quarter. But despite the challenges, same-store sales in the quarter were positive.

The company's net sales for the quarter increased $25.1 million to $458.2 million, compared to $433.1 million in the prior-year quarter. Same-store sales increased 0.1%, calculated on a comparable 13-week period of the prior year.

Although Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin recognizes that there is still much to be done, he praised the company’s “meaningful” progress on building a scalable foundation for its next phase of global growth.

Net revenue for the quarter increased 13% to $390.7 million from $344.5 million in the second quarter last year.

RadioShack posted a net loss of $137.2 million in its second quarter, more than double the $52.2 million loss reported in the year-ago period. It was the troubled retailer’s 10th straight quarterly loss.

RadioShack warned in a regulatory filing it may seek bankruptcy protection, with a possible sale or third-party investment as other potential avenues to remedy its ongoing financial woes.

New York -- Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit ratings of Sears Holding Corp. from “CCC” to “CC,” citing the “magnitude” of the retailer’s drop in profitability and lack of visibility to turn operations around as a significant concern.

Fitch also cited the company’s cash burn rate, calling it a “significant concern.”

North Palm Beach, Fla. – Despite prevailing expert opinion that mobile payments are popular with modern consumers, this may not actually be the case. A new survey of U.S. consumers conducted by Princeton Research Associates for Creditcards.com shows that only 4% of Americans say they would always use their mobile phone to make a purchase and only 9% said “most of the time.”

Morrisville, N.C. - Overall, August 2014 was a mixed bag for various online retailers with Amazon, Google Shopping/CSE, Search and other third-party marketplaces continuing to grow and EBay feeling the impact of its new EBay Defect Rate (EDR), which has made it tougher to obtain top-ranked seller ratings and significantly reduced inventory for sellers of used/refurbished items. According to monthly analysis from e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor, major online retailers reported the following same-store sales results in August.

By John Gessau, ACI Worldwide

With the news of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch debuting with mobile wallet capabilities in the marketplace, Apple’s announcement has given the (mobile) payments industry a boost, no doubt about it. But in what direction, and what are the implications for retailers?

By Jon May, Nuspire Networks

The year 2013 was a wake-up call for retailers with regards to national data breaches, with frequency jumping 62% from 2012 to 2013. Eight chart-topping breaches exposed information totaling just over 10 million people last year, as opposed to one single breach of that size the year before.

Statistics show the fall-out from a breach extend far beyond financial repercussions, (plan for $11k per affected customer per breach). Here are the scary statistics:

New York – Almost all retailers consider Big Data to be important, according to a new survey from Accenture Analytics. When asked how important is Big Data to their organization, 94% of retail executives answered “important,” 58% responded “extremely important,” and 36% responded “important.”

San Jose, Calif. – Retail performance has continued to improve throughout 2014. According to the RetailNext Composite Index analyzing more than 15 million shopping trips across specialty and larger format retail stores within the U.S., the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) rising for the fourth month is a positive sign for retailers going into fall season, and is reflected in uptick in conversion and sales per store of .4% and 4.2%, respectively.