In what retailers hope is a preview of the holiday shopping season, retail sales from the critical back-to-school month of August increased by 0.7% on the month, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday. When autos are excluded, that gain was a robust 1.8%. The August figure easily beat the Bloomberg consensus forecast of a 0.8% ... READ MORE >
consumer products
Already hot ‘buy now, pay later’ space gets a big boost from Amazon
Amazon, which has been slowly adding financial services products to its portfolio, has entered the hot “buy now, pay later” space. Last Friday, the e-commerce giant announced its partnership with Affirm, a buy-now-pay-later platform that allows customers to pay for purchases in installments. This partnership means customers shopping on Amazon will be able to ... READ MORE >
CHART OF THE DAY: Apparel goods pricing takes a mid-summer slide
The Consumer Price Index—which has indicated elevated pricing on apparel goods earlier this summer—appears to be declining on a year-over-year basis, according to Department of Labor data released Aug. 11. While topline CPI remained static at 5.4%, year-over-year CPI on apparel goods continued a downward trajectory in July to 4.2%, compared with 4.9% in ... READ MORE >
Grocers get margin relief, but it may only be temporary
Food retailers experienced better profit margins in June as they passed along price increases to customers while their costs from suppliers dropped. This relief marked a welcome change from recent years, when their ability to pass along rising food costs met stiff resistance from consumers. The shift has come at a good time for food retailers, allowing ... READ MORE >
No holiday break for fashion and apparel
On Aug.1, President Trump announced a 10% tariff on an additional $300 billion of Chinese goods not subject to previous tariffs levied by the United States during the protracted trade war. Last Friday, the president announced that the fresh tariffs would be hiked to 15%. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the most recent list ... READ MORE >