Nordstrom
After the market closes Thursday, Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is expected to report second quarter earnings. Reuters

After the market closes Thursday, Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is expected to report second quarter earnings of 88 cents a share on revenue of $3.30 billion, compared with earnings of 75 cents a share on revenue of $3.01 billion a year-ago, according to analysts polled by Reuters.

Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of Poshmark Inc., spoke with the International Business Times about investor sentiment heading into Nordstrom’s earnings.

“Macy’s and Nordstrom are fairly innovative retailers, which makes them a little bit different than the rest of the pack,” said Chandra.

Chandra explained that two things are driving retail today: mobile and localization.

“Mobile is having a very revolutionary dramatic impact on retail,” said Chandra. “The second thing is personalization, or localization. So Macy’s has been the avant-garde of localization, and they’re really starting to focus on customizing their merchandise for each store based on the local market.”

Macy's, Inc. (NYSE: M) surprised investors on Wednesday, after the department store missed forecasts and reported second quarter earnings of $281 million, or 72 cents a share, compared with earnings of $279 million, or 67 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

“Nordstrom has been the avant-garde of using new technologies and new business models. So they have a great mobile app. They’ve acquired Hautelook, and all of those new and innovative approaches to merchandising should again have a very positive impact on Nordstrom’s earnings.”

Nordstrom agreed to buy “flash sales” online retailer HauteLook Inc. in 2011 for $270 million in stock.

Economists look to consumer spending as an important gauge for the U.S. economy since it accounts for nearly two-thirds of gross domestic product (GDP). Chandra discussed how second quarter retail earning could reveal how the consumer’s spending habits have changed due to the tax hikes in January and sequestration cuts in March.

“I think it should give us a fairly good indicator of what the consumer’s mindset is,” said Chandra. “Q2 has been a good quarter in general for the economy, but I think one of the things that you will start to see is the changing sort of habits of the consumer, where consumers are increasingly using mobile to discover anywhere, to transact anywhere. You see that sort of in the Apple Store experience and the Apple Store app. You’ll start to see a little bit of that in the Macy’s mobile experience, and that’s something we’re seeing here at Poshmark, the blending of offline and online experiences.”

Chandra also discussed how the rise of social media overall can be seen in the resurgence of Facebook’s stock price. “How different retailers are leveraging that, and how different brands are leveraging that. That’s also very key to their success.”

On Thursday, shares of Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) edged down 0.62 percent to $59.17 in afternoon trade.

Retail