Inc. (October 1)
“Self-checkout was supposed to cut costs. instead, it created a problem retailers didn’t anticipate.” Some of the retailers who installed them “are starting to abandon self-checkout lanes” because they are proving costly. ECR Retail Loss found that “grocery stores experienced an average 22 percent increase in merchandise losses in the year after installing self-checkout lanes. These losses included both theft and accidental errors, such as missed scans and incorrect product selections.” Overall, retailers are still investing in technology, but they are currently searching for better solutions.
Tags: Abandon, Accidental errors, Costs, Grocery stores, Incorrect product selections, Losses, Merchandise, Missed scans, Problem, Retailers, Self-checkout, Theft
Washington Post (September 20)
“Although investors cheered the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut and the stock market has kept powering along, the economy is facing growing headwinds on one crucial front — consumer spending,” which is “faltering.” Even upper income consumers “are being more strategic about when to make big purchases, buying in bulk and shopping at cheaper retailers,” but the “shift is most pronounced among lower-income consumers, who are disproportionately vulnerable to rising prices and other economic pressures eroding their purchasing power.”
Tags: Bulk, Consumer spending, Economic pressures, Economy, Faltering, Fed, Headwinds, Investors, Lower-income, Rate cut, Retailers, Rising prices, Stock market, Upper income, Vulnerable
Reuters (March 3)
“Europe’s dark defence picture has a bright side. President Donald Trump’s hostility to erstwhile U.S. allies in Europe… has scrambled the continent’s security arrangements. Yet leaders who gathered in London on Sunday have a consolation of sorts: the pressure to rapidly rearm gives them cover to hike taxes.” They can now “legitimately tell their populations that everything has changed. There’s a solid long-term argument for Europeans to make a bigger contribution to their security. It’s a silver lining for an otherwise gloomy outlook.”
Tags: Car dealers, Cold weather, Decline, Drop, Economists, Environment, Indoors, Perilous, Rebound, Retail sales, Retailers, Tariff threats, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (December 26)
“Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows. That comes as a big relief for retailers that had spent much of the year fearing the economy would soon weaken and consumer spending would fall. Year on year, “retail sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 increased 3.1 percent.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Economy, Fearing, Holiday season, Increased, Inflation, Lingering, Relief, Retail sales, Retailers, Weaken
Fortune (November 11)
“Russia’s inflation has gone from bad to worse as it continues to wage war against Ukraine, causing even everyday goods to feel out of reach for the average person.” For example, “the price of a slab of butter has increased by 25.7% since December, prompting a slew of thefts across Russia and highlighting the state of the wartime economy.” To prevent shoplifting, supermarkets and retailers are now “attaching anti-theft tags to cans of meat… butter and other grocery staples.”
Tags: Anti-theft tags, Butter, Economy, Grocery, Inflation, Meat, Price, Retailers, Russia, Shoplifting, Supermarkets, Thefts, Ukraine, War
Inc. (October 4)
There was “a collective sigh of relief from U.S. business owners and economic officials” with Thursday’s agreement “to send 45,000 striking longshoremen back to work, and reopen nearly 40 East and Gulf Coast ports that had been closed since Tuesday.” The move “allows nearly half of the nation’s imports and exports to begin flowing again, and avoid the serious blow to retailers and industrial companies—and the wider economy—that could have occurred if the walkout had continued.”
Tags: Agreement, Business, East coast, Exports, Imports, Industry, Longshoremen, Officials, Owners, Ports, Relief, Reopen, Retailers, Striking, U.S.
Investment Week (July 19)
“UK retail sales volumes dropped by 1.2% in June,” marking a reversal of May’s stronger figures. Retailers are blaming “election uncertainty, along with poor weather and low footfall.” On the plus side, however, “falling UK wage growth boosts chances of August rate cut across most sectors.”
Tags: Election uncertainty, Footfall, June, May, Poor weather, Rate cut, Retail sales, Retailers, Reversal, UK, Volumes, Wage growth
New York Times (December 26)
“Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows. That comes as a big relief for retailers that had spent much of the year fearing the economy would soon weaken and consumer spending would fall.” It appears that “solid job growth is allowing people to spend more. And even though consumer prices have risen a lot in the last two years, wages have grown faster on the whole.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Economy, Holiday season, Inflation, Job growth, Lingering, Prices, Relief, Retailers, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (November 27)
“So far there are signs that U.S. shoppers are shelling out cash on gifts and other items. More shoppers visited stores and online spending grew on Black Friday this year compared with last year.” For many retailers, however, the rub is that “consumers are shifting away from store credit cards,” which had “been a lucrative source of revenue for retailers…. But the stream is drying up.”
Tags: Black Friday, Cash, Consumers, Gifts, https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/black-friday-spending-was-strong-how-people-pay-for-gifts-is-upending-retailers-e783ba2e?mod=itp_wsj U.S., Lucrative, Online spending, Retailers, Revenue, Shoppers, Store credit cards, Stores
CNBC (November 13)
As large U.S. retailers report earnings, inventory levels will dominate the gaze of analysts and investors. Retailers including Walmart, Target and Gap “are trying to sell through a glut of extra merchandise piling up in store backrooms and warehouses…. Balancing inventory has taken on additional urgency, as economists warn of dwindling savings accounts, rising credit card debt and the risk of a recession.”
Tags: Analysts, Debt, Dominate, Earnings, Economists, Gap, Glut, Inventory, Investors, Merchandise, Retailers, Risk, Savings, Target, Urgency, Walmart, Warehouses
