Dive Summary:
- U.S. retailers are reporting better revenues than anticipated by some industry analysts during this year’s back-to-school shopping season, the second best selling season of the year trailing only the holiday season.
- Many retailers resorted to a high rate of price discounting during the period to win over back-to-school shoppers. The level of discounting was markedly high when compared to figures from 2012.
- "What you see is very strong durable goods spending,” on items like new automobiles and homes, says chief economist Michael Niemira. Nine U.S. retail chains reported an increase in same-store sales of 2.9% for August.
From the article:
Costco's same-store sales, including those of gasoline, rose 4 percent, just beating analysts' expectations of a 3.8 percent gain. Demand was strong for health and beauty aids and food, but weak for electronics, the largest U.S. warehouse club chain said.
