Value Investing News

Over the past week, we surveyed 30 Target stores across the United States to track sales trends of and business levels in March. We asked the following questions

1. Do you think the weak housing market and weak economy are hurting business at your location?
2. What is the top selling brand of women's clothing right now?
3. How is business at you store currently?
4. Do you have excess inventory of any particular product or brand of product that will go on sale or discount soon?

• Surprisingly only 53% of respondents stated that the weak housing market or the weak economy overall was hurting business at their store location. 47% said these macro factors were not affecting sales at their store location. 
• Mossimo was the top selling women's brand according to 37% of respondents. 30% said it was Merona and 7% said Isaac Misrahi was the top women's brand. .
• Another surprise in this survey was that 50% of respondents reported business as “above average” at their store location while another 27% said business was “very strong”. 20% reported business “Average” and 7% reported business as “Below Average”.
• 44% of respondents did confirm their was excess inventory of some items like digital cameras and women's tops while 66% said there was not any excess inventory at their store location.

Conclusion of Channel Check: The data in this report is surprising when compared to the broader economic news in the market today. The business levels appear to be strong compared to our historical surveys on Target and other big box retailers. The impact of negative housing also seems to be shrinking at least in the employees perceptions. Mossimo scored very strongly in this survey and 30%+ recommendations are rare for big department store surveys.

For access to the underlying survey or for more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com