Author: Lisa Mahapatra

Strong Retail Sales, But Retailers Still Shedding Jobs

Ten years ago, Sandeep Bhanote started Global Bay Mobile with three friends out of an apartment. For six years they chugged along, creating apps for a variety of markets. In 2008 they decided to narrow their focus to their retail clients, making apps that would help their clients keep track […]

Excluding Autos, Retail Sales Still Going Strong

A sharp drop in auto sales will likely drag down the overall increase in retail sales, but other sectors are likely to show strong gains. This March is the warmest on record, and this unseasonably pleasant weather boosted sales in most other categories. People would likely have spent more money […]

As More Shoppers Go Online, Retailers Close Stores, Open Warehouses

Best Buy, a consumer electronics retailer, will close 50 stores this year. Sears, best known for selling appliances, tires and tools, also plans to close 173 stores within the first half of this year. Best Buy and Sears are amongst many brick-and-mortar retailers losing business to online shopping websites like […]

Consumers Remain Unfazed by Higher Gas Prices

With retail sales the highest they’ve been in five months, rising gasoline prices don’t seem to be fazing consumers, yet. Retail sales rose 1.1% in February, in line with economists’ expectations. Though higher gasoline prices accounted for some of the increase in spending, retail sales in February were still very […]

Retail Sales Up, Car Sales Down

Retail sales rose 0.4% in January, well below expectations in a sign that the economy isn’t recovering quite as quickly as economists would like to think. Since automakers had reported an increase in unit sales earlier in the month, the 1.3% drop in motor vehicle sales was the biggest surprise […]