Aeropostale posted better than expected quarterly results after Wednesday's market close, but any good feelings were stamped out when the trendy apparel retailer offered up problematic guidance for the current quarter.
American consumers are growing more confident about the job market, companies are ordering more equipment and home prices are rising in most major cities. The latest batch of government data suggests that the economy is improving just as the holiday shopping season begins.
The good news is that the election is behind us, so expect political ads to disappear from the airwaves. The bad news is that you can now spend the next six to seven weeks getting thoroughly sick of Christmas advertising.
Airlines have canceled thousands of flights, stranding travelers around the globe. Insurers are bracing for possible damages of $5 billion. Retailers face shrunken sales.
Walmart is testing same-day delivery of televisions, toys and other general merchandise bought online in a few U.S. markets as it tries to find new ways to keep up with competitors and to attract busy shoppers this holiday season.
If you're one of the throngs of shoppers who camp out all night outside the nation's stores before Black Friday in hopes of nabbing a huge deal when the doors swing open, you've been duped.
Toys R Us is the latest retailer planning to ramp up seasonal hiring this holiday. But just-released sales forecasts on the busiest shopping season of the year raise the question: Will all those added store associates be kept busy?
Don't expect crazy markdowns at Target when you shop for gifts this holiday season. The trendy discounter is opting out of the winter price wars, counting instead on its trendy exclusive collections to lure customers. And if that means it loses sales to rivals, that's OK by Target.
Toys R Us is making it easier for shoppers to use its layaway program ahead of the crucial holiday season, waiving its service fee and minimum purchase requirement beginning Tuesday.
June's tepid retail sales numbers are already casting a pall over the industry's outlook for autumn -- and they may bode ill for the winter, too.
Retail sales inched up by just 0.1% in December, but the gain was enough to lift sales to a record level for 2011. It marked the largest annual increase in more than a decade, and confirms that the economy was strengthening as the year ended.
The holiday shopping season is wrapping up to be bigger than anyone expected. Now, retailers are holding their breath and hoping consumers will keep spending in the final days before Christmas.
U.S. shoppers spent 15 percent more in online holiday buying compared to last year, after what may have been the busiest week of the season, said research firm comScore on Sunday. Shoppers have spent $30.9 billion online from Nov. 1 through Dec. 16, up from $26.9 billion at the same point last year, said the Reston, Va., company, which tracks Web use.
Buy Nothing Christmas and groups like it are on a mission to recast the holidays so that they're richer in meaning, smaller in environmental impact and greater in giving to people less privileged. They also aim to expose the downside of an economy largely reliant on consumer purchases. It's an idea whose time has come.
With the final Christmas countdown begun, the National Retail Federation has upgraded its holiday sales forecast, reflecting growing optimism that much more spending is to come. The NRF now expects holiday sales to rise 3.8% to a record $469.1 billion. That's up from its more modest 2.8 percent forecast made in early October, though it's hardly stellar.