While major corporations may seem to receive the greatest amount of attention, this year specialty retail sectors are putting their retail software to use and experiencing great success.

Off-price apparel businesses such as TJ Companies – think TJ Maxx – and Ross Stores both saw revenue increases in the first quarter of this year, Forbes reports. TJ Companies saw first quarter earnings grow by 55 percent while sales increased by 11 percent, totaling $5.8 billion and surpassing analyst projections of $5.75 billion.

Ross Stores surprised analysts even more in the first quarter, according to Forbes. The consensus estimate placed the retail company at reporting revenue of $2.34 billion, yet Ross Stores easily beat expectations with $3.26 billion in revenue.

These numbers draw attention to and even dispel a problem plaguing the speciality retail sphere: marketing. Mobile devices are all the rage in the marketing sector, and purportedly may make or break how retailers connect with their customers.

According to a survey from Briteskies, only 17 percent of specialty online retailers offer a mobile website. However, with the numbers seen above, is mobile as really important as we've been led to believe?

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 at 4:55 am .