April 20, 2024

Retail Sales Slow in February as Payroll Tax Crimps Spending

Americans cut back on spending in February as cold weather and economic strain chilled their appetite for spring merchandise, retailers reported on Thursday.

The nation’s retailers said sales slowed in February, when most stores get rid of winter merchandise and bring in swimsuits, ankle-length pants and other spring fashions. Americans are dealing with a payroll-tax increase of two percentage points, income tax refunds that came later than usual and high gas prices. Widespread winter storms may also have made spring merchandise less appealing to them.

“February was a difficult month,” said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a research firm. “Retailers faced significant headwinds.”

The numbers reflect a drop in sales growth from January. Over all, 14 retailers reported that revenue at stores open at least a year — an indicator of retail health — rose an average of 4.1 percent, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry trade group. That compares with increases of 5.1 percent in January and 6.7 percent last February.

But the latest results were affected by a drop in the number of stores reporting monthly sales, including the loss of big names like Target and Macy’s.

With the shrinking list, Costco, which posted a 6 percent gain in February, now accounts for about two-thirds of the tally. The retailers that report monthly data represent only about 6 percent of the $2.4 trillion in annual United States retail industry sales.

Among the companies that reported monthly results, the ones that cater to poor and middle-class shoppers said that Americans were still grappling with economic challenges. Many retailers resorted to steep discounts to attract shoppers.

“February sales reflect the continuing difficult economic environment,” said John Cato, chief executive of Cato, a women’s clothing chain. “We did see some beneficial impact from the delay in tax refunds from January.”

Limited Brands Inc., which operates Victoria’s Secret and has been on a winning streak, said that it had to discount more heavily than usual to bring in shoppers in February. Still, it reported a 3 percent increase in revenue, above the 2.6 percent rise analysts had expected.

Gap Inc., which started to gain momentum early last year, had a mixed performance. The retailer, which operates Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores, posted a 3 percent increase, higher than the 2 percent gain analysts had projected. Revenue rose 2 percent at Gap and 6 percent at Old Navy, but sales at Banana Republic stores open at least a year fell 5 percent.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/business/economy/retailers-report-sales-gains.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Media Decoder Blog: A Fish, Er, Storm Named Nemo

“We’re ready for Nemo,” the Twitter account for the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote on Thursday before listing all the tools at the city’s disposal for the blizzard that is expected to form on Friday.

Wait — Nemo?

Yes, The Weather Channel’s new names for winter storms are catching on, much to the chagrin of the National Weather Service, which has advised its forecasters not to follow the channel’s lead. But some airlines, governors’ offices and media outlets are all playing along, publishing advisories with the Nemo name.

Seriously, though. Nemo?

So far this winter weather season, The Weather Channel has bestowed storms with names like Athena, Caesar, Freyr, Iago, and Kahn. This one — bringing to mind the adorable orange fishie in the Disney/Pixar film “Finding Nemo” — is the funniest yet. The jokes flew on Thursday as fast as the snow is forecast to fall. “They have named this new Nor’easter Nemo. I am not looking for it,” wrote the actor and comedian Albert Brooks on Twitter.

“Nemo” — if we can call it that, for the purposes of this article — was trending on Twitter by Thursday morning. It’s a rather incongruous name, given that the impending blizzard is likely to be the biggest such storm that the Northeast has seen in several years. But “Jaws” isn’t a possibility; The Weather Channel isn’t weighing a name change. The winter storm names were all announced last November and are assigned in alphabetical order.

Besides, “Nemo is a Latin word,” explained Bryan Norcross, the channel meteorologist who helped conceive the storm-naming last year. The word means “no one” or “no man.” He said that, not “Finding Nemo,” was the inspiration for the name.

Captain Nemo, the famous Jules Verne character from “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” also came up when the channel was brainstorming. “Captain Nemo was a pretty tough, fierce guy,” Mr. Norcross said.

Many reporters and weather experts continue to roll their eyes at the channel’s storm-naming, just as they did when it was announced last November. It’s widely viewed as a marketing ploy, even though some skeptics admit that the names help raise awareness about storms. On Thursday, a National Weather Service spokesman reiterated, “We never have, nor do we have any plans to consider naming winter storms.”

Mr. Norcross, for his part, said “the names are working well.”

“We expected that some people would pick it up because there’s a common sense aspect to this,” he said, adding that “in Europe they’ve been naming storms for over fifty years.”

This blizzard is the 14th named storm by the channel. “We’re a little ahead of our expectations,” Mr. Norcross said. “There have been a number of intense but fairly short-lived storms this year, unlike last year where we figure we would have only named about seven. Each season is different.”

He mentioned another common-sensical reason for the names: “The fact is that Twitter needs a hashtag.”

For the record, then, the channel’s next names are Orko, Plato and Q.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/a-fish-er-storm-named-nemo/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Bucks Blog: Thursday Reading: Preparing a ‘Stay Bag’ for Winter Storms

September 29

Thursday Reading: Preparing a ‘Stay Bag’ for Winter Storms

Preparing a “stay bag” for winter storms, college offers top students tuition discounts, why doctors order so many tests and other consumer-focused news from The New York Times.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=85fa48a00aad26e6ffb333cf42006f4e