The back to school shopping season has been going strong since at least the beginning of July, per a survey from the National Retail Federation. However, with more school-related purchases still coming their way, retailers are only offering hints of how this crucial pre-holiday shopping season is going so far.

Walmart US president and CEO John Furner told shareholders on August 15 that back to school “started off strong this last couple weeks,” but that “about 50% of our customers still say they have a lot of shopping left to do.”

“We have to continue to execute really well, clean up, come out of the season strong so that then we can move to the next holiday, which will be Labor Day,” he said. “So good start, but a lot of trading left to do.”

Target’s Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez said back-to-school sales reached their peak in the front half of Q3, and highlighted that the home category, which grew more than 7 percentage points in Q2, is on track to perform well again. In addition, he stressed the importance of affordability, noting that Target is offering 20 of the most popular school supply items such as crayons, notebooks, and backpacks for a combined price of less than $20.

Both retail giant’s Q2 results included the month of July, but the bulk of back-to-school shopping was expected in August, which means many retailers won’t have to reveal their sales numbers for the period until the middle of fall. But how experts are interpreting these early signals appears to vary widely.

Keep reading here.—AV

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Dominate the holiday season.

Albertsons today debuted a new private label brand, Overjoyed, spanning treats, gifts, and decor.

The new line, which the company noted is its “first major private label debut in recent years,” is sold across Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, and Shaw’s.

Offerings include sugar cookies, mini palmiers, French macarons, baking chips, snack mixes, and seasonal items like vampire fang gummies. An extension of the brand called Overjoyed Boutique includes vases, candles, and seasonal gifts. Bakery items appear to range from $4.49 to $39.99, per the Safeway website.

Keep reading here.—EC

Retailers are always trying to get a foot in the door with consumers, but surely none so literally as shoe stores, and a new size-measuring device for kids aims to win them—and their credit-card wielding parents—over.

Aetrex, which already makes a popular 3D foot scanning device used by shoe stores, Albert 2 Pro, is introducing a new twist: Tootsie, a friendly monster on the device’s screen who instructs and entertains kids for the short process of holding still while the scale-like platform they’re standing on measures their feet.

The new software has rolled out on Aetrex devices at more than 1,000 US shoe stores, including at Tradehome Shoe Stores and some DSW locations.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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