U.S. retailers this year geared up for the annual back-to-school shopping season, the parents and children didn't fill the streets and shopping malls - they stayed inside, and online, cruising for bargains on the Internet.
Overall sales this August were up only slightly from last year, failing to give stores the boost they needed after a sluggish summer.
A report from MasterCard's SpendingPulse released yesterday (Wednesday) showed that consumers gave a slight bump to children's clothing and consumer electronics with their back-to-school shopping, but pulled back in other areas of merchandise which cut into sales gains.
But among uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.
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Barnes & Noble Sale Won't Rid the Retailer of its Woes
Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) announced late Tuesday that it would put itself up for sale. But even with its recent struggles analysts aren't sure of what the company hopes to accomplish.
"There are companies that do this because they have to and there are companies that do this because they have impatient shareholders and I'm not sure what's driving this kind of statement," Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, told The Associated Press. "It just seems daft."
The company's board said that it believed Barnes & Noble stock was "significantly undervalued" and that it had established a special committee to review its options.
"There are companies that do this because they have to and there are companies that do this because they have impatient shareholders and I'm not sure what's driving this kind of statement," Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, told The Associated Press. "It just seems daft."
The company's board said that it believed Barnes & Noble stock was "significantly undervalued" and that it had established a special committee to review its options.
Hot Stocks: New Media Player Just One Reason to Like Seagate Technology
Disk drive makers are usually seen as the poor stepsisters of the consumer electronics world.
While their more glamorous cousins like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), and Sony Corp. (NYSE ADR: SNE) bask in the spotlight, storage providers like Seagate Technology (Nasdaq: STX), while equally important, draw little fanfare.
Few realize for instance that shares of Seagate, the largest disk maker in the world, have just about quadrupled in the past year.
While their more glamorous cousins like Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), and Sony Corp. (NYSE ADR: SNE) bask in the spotlight, storage providers like Seagate Technology (Nasdaq: STX), while equally important, draw little fanfare.
Few realize for instance that shares of Seagate, the largest disk maker in the world, have just about quadrupled in the past year.
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