July Sales Solid
Broiling heat across much of America drove many consumers to air-conditioned malls in July, and the bigger crowds helped make July a solid month for sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Chain-store sales increased by 4.6 percent compared with last year. The performance should bode well for Back-to-School, according to Michael P. Niemira, chief economist for the ICSC.
quot;Even with higher prices from gasoline, apparel and food having inflated the reported sales growth by approximately 2 percentage points, July’s sales performance was still quite solid.quot;
During July, online sales increased 14 percent compared with last year, according to market report MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse. Luxury sales grew 11.6 percent in a year-over-year basis. Sales for specialty apparel increased 6.2 percent compared with last year.
While retailers across the board reported positive same-store sales, Adrienne Tennant, an analyst and managing director of financial-services firm Janney Capital Markets, wrote that July comps were disappointing.
quot;Late July slowed materially, quot;she wrote in an Aug. 4 research note. Consumers were seeking quot;wear-nowquot; clothes to help them beat the heat, just at the time when stores were setting up their Back-to-School and Fall merchandise. Along with these missed opportunities to sell more summer clothes, she wrote in an Aug. 2 note, retailers were offering deep discounts well before Labor Day, when deep discounts are typically offered. During the last weekend of July, Chico’s began running quot;buy one, get one 50 percent offquot; promotions on merchandise throughout stores during that weekend. Abercrombie & Fitch was offering 50 percent off on its denim.
Despite mixed reviews of the macroeconomic scene, retailers across the board—including Ross, Macy’s and Target—reported their July sales results exceeded expectations or ended up ranking at the high end of their original forecasts.
In July, Hot Topic reported its most robust same-store-sales numbers in years. The City of Industry, Calif.–based retailer reported same-store sales of 7.3 percent, and the boost was influenced by the pop-culture retailer being a go-to place for merchandise from the blockbuster movie quot;Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.quot;
For August’s retail sales, the ICSC forecasts an increase of 4 percent to 5 percent. —Andrew Asch
