April '02 Sales Have Silver Lining
It could have been better and it could have been worse. That’s the observation most analysts and observers are making regarding April retail sales, which were affected by unseasonably cool weather and the fact that Easter fell in March this year.
Still, April retail sales rose 1.2 percent, up from a 0.1 percent rise in March, marking the biggest increase since October 2001, according to the Commerce Department. Economists, on average, were expecting sales to increase by 0.6 percent.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other low-priced chains continued to gain ground, though their increases proved modest in April.
Wal-Mart announced that same-store sales were up 3.3 percent, a bit below the 3.9 percent gain expected by Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. Target Corp. reported that same-store sales gained 0.4 percent, well below the 3.0 percent increase that analysts were anticipating.
May Department Stores Co. said same-store sales increased by 3.9 percent, helped along by a major sales promotion that had been shifted from the last week of March 2001. J.C. Penney’s 100th-anniversary sale helped the department store generate a better-than-expected same-store sales gain of 5.5 percent. Saks Inc. exceeded expectations with a same-store sales increase of 0.9 percent, citing weakness in men’s apparel, designer casual women’s sportswear and accessories.
The bleak sales stories from some specialty stores did have silver linings. Gap Inc. reported a 24.0 percent same-store sales decline that was better than the 30 percent decline most expected, and the retailer said it expects to generate a profit in its first quarter. And Ann Taylor Inc.’s 2.7 percent same-store sales decline was much narrower than the 3.3 percent drop expected.—Nola Sarkisian-Miller
