Martinne Geller

Check Out home-related retailers Sears Holdings and Williams-Sonoma reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Does this mean consumers are feathering their nests again?

Somewhat, according to Barclays analyst Michael Lasser, who said Williams-Sonoma's results were "an indication that upper-income consumers are spending a bit more, which is not surprising given the rally in the stock market and the stabilization in the housing market."

Williams-Sonoma, which also operates Pottery Barn and West Elm, has updated its styles and slashed prices on some items to woo shoppers, despite worries that the move might tarnish its image as a high-end retailer.

But it's not only high-end chains showing signs of life. Kmart, the value-priced retailer that sells everything from appliances to clothing, posted its first increase in same-store sales since 2005, and only its second since 2001. The chain, which is owned by Sears, took back its shoe operations this year from Footstar, which had operated within Kmart stores.

Even Sears, which depends more heavily on the housing market due to its Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances, posted its best performance since the fourth quarter of 2007, and outperformed competing home improvement chains like Home Depot and Lowe's.

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(Photo: Reuters)

Check out the holiday promotions from Staples.

Staples may not be the first place people think of to do their Christmas shopping, but the office supplies retailer is trying to drive traffic to its stores and website with promotions ranging from free shipping and value-priced gifts to laptop giveaways.

Starting on Nov. 30, the first Monday of the official holiday shopping season -- dubbed "Cyber Monday" since many people use the first day back at work to shop online -- Staples will give away a $1,000 technology bundle that includes an HP Laptop computer, every day.

It is also offering a range of products for under $10, including digital ornaments and mini pod speakers from Omnitech. 

Staples is also offering free shipping for online orders of more than $50 and is giving customers the option of having their orders shipped to a store for pick-up, which could be convenient for people who are traveling.

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(Photo: Staples)

Check out America's famous twins at it again.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, the former child actresses turned fashion designers, are launching a new juniors' sportswear and accessories line for J.C. Penney.  The travel-themed line is called Olsenboye, with each collection highlighting a new city.

The mid-priced line features clothes, shoes and handbags priced from $20 to $50.

Fashion is not new for the sisters, who were television stars from infancy and grew up to have a quirky bohemian style.  They currently have high-end lines, such as The Row, which sells at Bergdorf Goodman, and Elizabeth and James, which sells at Neiman Marcus.  They even once had a line of girls' clothes at Wal-Mart, though it no longer exists. 

Items from the new line will be available for a limited time in select JC Penney stores and online starting Nov. 6, with a full launch set for spring 2010.  Let's see if it lasts longer than the line at Wal-Mart.

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(Reuters photo)

Check Out a new survey by market research firm NPD Group that says this year's winter holiday will be better than last year's but still not that merry. 

Thirty percent of consumers who responded to the survey said they planned to spend less on holiday gifts this year, up from 26 percent last year.

"That 4 percent increase is certainly a sign of the times," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group, based in Port Washington, New York. "On the other hand, that 4 percent is not s dramatic as it could have been. I think consumers will be looking for the right gift, rather than the most extravagant or expensive one."

Cohen forecast total holiday sales to grow a modest 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent from last year, and said consumers are likely to favor more traditional gift items this year.

Sweaters, fragrances, music, books, movies, and wallets, are expected to be popular gifts,  Cohen. said.  "We are also seeing makeup and TVs showing signs of growth. Other stand-outs are notebooks/netbooks. They have been growing and will continue to grow through the holiday." 

Another bright spot was apparel, with 49 percent of respondents saying they planned to buy articles of clothing as a gift. That was steady with consumers' intentions from last year.

"That is good news for apparel," Cohen said. "Its multi-year slip has stabilized this year."

The toy category slipped, however, with 34 percent of respondents saying they planned to buy toys this year, down from 37 percent last year. About 29 percent of respondents said they planned to buy movies, steady with last year.

People who said they planned to buy books and electronics each rose 1 percentage point to 28 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

In terms of motivating shoppers, NPD said "value" will be the prime motivator, with 62 percent of respondents saying value would play a big role in determining what and where they purchase. About 61 percent said they would be motivated by a "special sale," and 50 percent cited a "convenient location".

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(Photo: Reuters)

If you received a great Christmas present last year, and are hoping for the same kind of treatment this year, don't hold your breath -- U.S. consumers are planning to spend conservatively this holiday season, according to two new surveys.

A Gallup poll found that consumers, on average, plan to spend $740 this year on holiday gifts. At this time last year, consumers said they planned to spend $801 on average. That number fell to $616 during a November poll, although it recovered slightly to $639 in a December poll.

The latest Gallup survey, which polled over 1,000 consumers from Oct 1-Oct 4, found that 33 percent of respondents said the planned to spend less this year on holiday gifts. Last year, that figure was 35 percent.

Apart from 2008, when retailers faced the toughest holiday shopping season in nearly four decades, Gallup said its 2009 spending outlook is the worst since mid-December 1991, when 33 percent of Americans said they would spend less on gifts than the year before.

The trend of paring back is the same among the nation's elite.

A separate survey, which polled 684 people with an average income of $300,000 and net worth of $3.1 million, found that nine percent of those people said they would not buy any gifts this year. Three percent said they would spend more than they did last year, while 38 percent said they would spend less.

The survey, by the American Affluence Research Center, estimated this group of consumers would spend about $2,400 per household, on average, for holiday gifts.

(Photo: Reuters)

What is the latest and most important environmental concern these days? Global warming? Disappearing ice caps and rain forests? Reliance on non-renewable energy?

Wrong. According to a new survey sponsored by Molson Coors Brewing Co, water pollution ranked No. 1, followed by fresh water shortages, depletion of natural resources, air pollution and loss of animal and plant species.

The survey was commissioned by Circle of Blue, a nonprofit affiliate of the Pacific Institute, a water and climate think tank. It polled people in 15 countries, including the United States, Mexico, China and India, about their views on water issues including sustainability, management and conservation.

Molson Coors, maker of Coors Light and Molson Canadian beers, sponsored the survey as a first step in trying to understand how people in international markets -- where it hopes to expand its business -- view water. 

Molson Chief Executive Peter Swinburn said that as the company expands internationally, it must understand what a local community's issues are and try to address them before spending money and building a factory.

"We're a branded organinzation. We live by research and consumer opinion," Swinburn said in an interview. "To try and address a problem without going to consumers and understanding their perceptions is difficult to do."

Of the seven "focus" countries, consumers in Mexico seemed to take the problem of water pollution the most seriously, with 90 percent of respondents calling it a "very serious problem." The rest of the countries ranged from 58 percent in Britain to 71 percent in Canada.

The survey included a "water concern index" which measured people's concern about water issues by aggregating their concerns about water pollution, lack of safe drinking water, lack of water for agriculture and the high cost of water.

According to that index, Mexico and India were much more concerned than average. China and Canada were right above average. Britain, the United States and Russia showed below-average concern.

Swinburn said conserving water can improve its profit margins by reducing costs, while helping people get access to clean water increases the health and economic vibrancy of a community, making it a stronger potential marketplace. 

"From the microcosmic level of our margin through to the broader social impacts, it affects our bottom line," Swinburn said, proving that risks related to the world's fresh water supply ripple through the beverage industry.  

Another interesting point concerned responsibilty for ensuring clean water. Respondents in Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States said they believed that water companies were the most responsible, followed by the government, large companies, citizens, farmers and non-governmental organizations.

In Canada, China, India and Mexico, respondents thought the government should be most responsible.

Following the discussion on water, Swinburn took a few moments to answer Reuters' questions about its business outlook for the rest of the year.

Television shows like "Project Runway" and "The Fashion Show" feature a host of ambitious designers angling for their big break. Last weekend, a Manhattan middle school took the amateur fashion show to a whole different level.

Featuring outfits designed during seventh- and eight-grade art classes, Manhattan Academy of Technology (P.S. 126) put on a real runway show, which was hosted by Stacy London, from the TLC network's instructional fashion program "What Not to Wear".

Dresses were the most popular design, but ranged in style from casual sundresses to metallic-sheened party dresses to an asymmetric gown. Two even featured recycled materials.

For these talented 12 to 14 year olds, one thing seems clear. If they keep it up, they could make a killing come prom time.

(Photos by Manny Torres)

Just when it seems like everyone is using Twitter, we learn that is not really the case. 

A panel discussion on Thursday at the CIES World Food Business Summit in New York featured four prominent industry leaders: Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes, Cargill CEO Greg Page, Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld and Jeff Noddle, executive chairman of grocery chain Supervalu. The conversation turned to how the panelists' companies would stay relevant with the next generation of consumers.

Understanding Generation Y, whose oldest members are already in the work force, will be key to success in the future, said Noddle.  

Very broadly defined, Generation Y includes more than 70 million Americans born from 1977 to 2002.  

"They will measure their purchases on different criteria than those who came before them," Noddle said, noting that younger consumers were more concerned with issues of sustainability and health. "We're trying to understand that and trying to project how do you respond to that. Even though they may not have the dollar power today, they will. And I think that's a critical element."

Sara Lee's Barnes agreed, noting that today's younger consumers "grew up on the Internet" and that they "have every bit of information at their fingertips in a nanosecond."

Moderator Bill Rancic, the first winner on Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" reality television show, asked who on the panel was "tweeting" (and therefore a "twit"). 

Nobody was.

Then Rancic asked the same question of the crowd, which included an international array of grocery retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and consultants.

Only a handful of arms went up.

After bragging that his wife, E! News anchor and managing editor Giuliana Rancic has over 650,000 followers on the social networking site, Rancic exclaimed: "It is just taking over, and it's not just in the U.S."

Twitter may be taking over, but it clearly has not penetrated the grocery aisle just yet.

"Sparkling or still?"
 
Remember when that question, asked with a certain downward gaze, would make you feel like a tactless tightwad for requesting tap? Did you try to lessen the shame with a smile and a clever nickname, like "I'll have 'New York's Finest'"?
 
Restaurants and hotels across the country are blurring the lines between these choices, as they stop serving bottled water due to a perception that it is environmentally unfriendly. Critics object to the waste left behind by the plastic and glass bottles, as well as the fuel and other natural resources used to manufacture and ship the bottles all over the world.
 
"In the world of trying to live in a more green, sustainable environment, I think water is the most obvious, simple thing that we can do," said Joseph Bastianich, a business partner of Mario Batali and co-owner of restaurants including Babbo, Lupa, Esca and Del Posto.
 
Bastianich told Reuters he is in the process of phasing out water across all his restaurants, following in the footsteps of other environmentally-conscious restaurants like Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.
 
In its place, Bastianich is installing filters made by Natura Water, which purify a restaurant's tap water and allow users to get still, sparkling or room temperature tap water. The restaurants can adjust the amount of carbonation, allowing them to tout the water as made in-house.
 
The Natura system, which comes with reusable water bottles for serving, can be rented for about $400 a month. 
 
Company founder Marco De Plano, whose customers also include L.A.'s  Ciudad, San Francisco's Foreign Cinema and certain Four Seasons hotels, said that with prices of high-end bottled water bubbling as high as $10, high-traffic locations can recoup their losses quickly.
 
"When we started this a year ago, everybody was talking about the green aspect," De Plano said. 
 
Bastianich says a liter of Natura water costs him about 50 cents and sells for about $4. That profit margin is slimmer than before, when he would pay about 80 cents for a liter of premium bottled mineral water and sell it for up to $9. 
 
"We think the loss of margin is an investment that's very worthwhile making," Bastianich said. 

The sacrifice to margins would lessen as sales of house-made water increase.

As the backlash against bottled water heats up across the country a host of local governments have cut bottled water out of their budgets.  Virginia, Illinois and New York are among the states that have banned buying bottled water with state funds.

(Photos: Reuters\Eric Thayer)

Check out Abercrombie & Fitch shares getting upgraded by one stock analyst and downgraded by another in the same day.

Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Adrienne Tennant upgraded Abercrombie shares to "outperform" as she expects the company's change of heart regarding discounts should stem market share losses.

"We believe that stabilizing market share losses is the first step in the turnaround process," Tennant wrote in a research note. "Therefore, although our analysis suggests ongoing margin contraction for the next few quarters, we are willing to be early in order to see if this new approach to price points will bear fruit.

"If it is proven that the sales improvement is short-lived, or if management chooses to return to a full-price stance in the near-term, we might reassess our opinion," she said. 

In the meantime, she said recent clearance sales were luring shoppers.

At the same time, Brean Murray Carret analyst Eric Beder downgraded the shares from "buy" to "hold" since Abercrombie shares reached his target price of $30 per share.

"Although we believe there could be further upside in the future as the company returns to prominence and the potential to achieve improved margins becomes clearer, we believe in the short term Abercrombie & Fitch will remain somewhat challenged on the top and bottom lines," Beder wrote in his note.

Beder added that with the company's shares now trading at 15 times 2011 earnings estimates, he believes "the risk/reward has tilted."

We'll see how shoppers feel about Abercrombie when it reports May sales on Thursday.

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(Photo: Reuters)