Costco announced they will be distributing a special dividend to stockholders next month. The company already had plans to pay their quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents per share, which they will pay in addition to the one time special dividend. The special dividend comes at a time that … [Read more...]
Consumer Confidence Reaches Nearly 5-Year High
Tis the season to be jolly, and according to recent government data, Americans are in good economic spirits this holiday season. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index climbed to a nearly 5-year high this month, increasing from 73.1 to 73.7. Factors such as rising home … [Read more...]
Cyber Monday Sales Record Breaking
Cyber Monday was up 30% compared to last year, powered mostly by smart phones and tablets. Not only was Cyber Monday a big shopping day this year, but according to IBM it was the biggest day of online shopping ever. Almost 20% of consumers browsed their way through deals on their … [Read more...]
Gifts in ’12 Days of Christmas’ Exceed $100K
The fabled true love of Christmas might be better off giving diamonds and flat screens than lords-a-leaping and a partridge in a pear tree, according to PNC Wealth Management. The organization, which calculates the cost of the 364 items listed in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” … [Read more...]
Black Friday Shows Major Signs of Things to Come
The figures for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping are in and online shopping is gaining huge momentum that foretells a continued shift to more dollars being spent online. Experian and Hitwise tallied up their numbers and what they tell us is the online shopping traffic on … [Read more...]
Cyber Monday Continues Holiday Shopping Trends
Analysts expect Cyber Monday to continue this year’s holiday shopping trend of higher sales, as many Americans seem optimistic about their finances. In spite of worries about the potential fiscal cliff and many other concerns about the overall economic outlook in the U.S., American … [Read more...]
Online Retail Traffic Surges for Both Thanksgiving and Black Friday
The Thanksgiving spread paid off for retailers this year, as Experian Hitwise found Thanksgiving Day online traffic increased a full 71 percent in 2012 versus 2011 for the top 500 retail sites which received more than 181 million US visits. For the entire holiday week, online traffic … [Read more...]
Retailers Push for High Cyber Monday Web Traffic
Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are now part of 2012 history, with record sales including Thanksgiving Day. Now research firm comScore predicts Cyber Monday will surpass all three days’ online sales and be the biggest online shopping day of the year for the third consecutive … [Read more...]
Black Friday and Walmart Protests
The early kickoff to Black Friday this year, Black Thursday, certainly must have stolen business that would have otherwise been transacted on Friday. But, according to The International Council of Shopping Centers, over eighty million shoppers still attacked their shopping list … [Read more...]
Small Business Saturday Encourages Holiday Shoppers to Spend Money Locally
Today is Small Business Saturday, and although it’s not associated with the shopping hysteria of Black Friday’s frenzied shoppers waiting in long lines just to get rock-bottom prices on electronics, bedding, toys and more, the day certainly is significant in its own right. Started in … [Read more...]
Sony Smartphone Comeback
A recent Wall Street Journal article talked about whether or not Sony Corporation is gaining momentum in the smart phone market. Sony actually moved up from being the sixth largest maker of smart phones in the world to the number three slot for the third quarter of 2012. Sony’s share … [Read more...]
USPS to Launch Same-Day Delivery Program
We've come a long way from the Pony Express. In today’s world of technological instant gratification, the financially struggling United States Postal Service believes it can turn a profit by offering same-day delivery to Internet shoppers. Beginning Dec. 12, the USPS will pilot the … [Read more...]
Groupon Stock on the Rise
The stock price of daily deal giant Groupon jumped 15% two days after Tiger Global Management (Tiger) revealed a 9.9% stake in the company, bringing the stock price gains for the week to about 30%. This was the second daily gain for Groupon stock after Tiger's public disclosure of its … [Read more...]
Americans Find Funds for Holiday Travels in Spite of Tough Economy
More than 43 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles this holiday weekend, according to AAA’s Thanksgiving Holiday Travel Forecast, and 90 percent of those journeys will take place on the road. Thanksgiving travel has increased for four consecutive years, and is now up … [Read more...]
Retail Workers Holiday Woes
Thanksgiving may just be one of the first casualties of increasing financial pressures on companies struggling to remain financially strong in an increasingly competitive retail environment. As Black Friday becomes Black Thursday families across America ponder how far business … [Read more...]
Hewlett-Packard’s $8.8 Billion Blunder
Hewlett- Packard Co. (HP) announced its most recent quarterly financial statements, which included not only disappointing results, but a huge unexpected write-down related to questionable accounting at Autonomy, the software giant HP acquired in October 2011. The total hit to HP's … [Read more...]
Hostess Agrees to Mediation with Bakers Union
Just as the black market for Hostess products is getting hot on Web sites such as Ebay and Amazon, Hostess Brands Inc. and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union agreed Nov. 19 to try and resolve their differences through private mediation. … [Read more...]
Hostess Brands May Survive Bankruptcy
Hostess, the maker of such American icon food products as Twinkies and Ho Ho's recently announced plans to cease operations amid attempts to cut workers' pay and benefits in a last ditch effort to avert financial disaster. As word spread of the impending end of American's Twinkie … [Read more...]
Cyber Monday sales expand in 2012
It looks like Black Friday isn't the only shopping day expanding its reach earlier this year. Cyber Monday, generally the largest shopping day for Web retailers, with sales targeting those who don’t wish to brave the crowds and lines following Thanksgiving, is spanning several days … [Read more...]
Walmart Responds to Employee Walkout Threats
As retailers nationwide adjust their holiday schedules to squeeze even more out of Black Friday, Walmart faces additional challenges. For many retailers it's not even Black Friday anymore, but Black Thursday, as many have rolled forward the start of their sales. Target is opening … [Read more...]
