A growing proportion of families are kicking off their back-to-school shopping earlier, according to survey data. One-fifth of families are now starting in June, with many shopper citing increased anxieties over the action as the impetus behind starting things off earlier (more).

Five Below delivered a series of massive wins in its first-quarter report, notching net sales growth of 32.5% YoY (to $1.28 billion) based on 15 of its 18 departments exhibiting positive growth. “We are thrilled with our outstanding first quarter performance, which is a testament to the team’s execution of our customer-centric strategy,” CEO Winnie Park said (more).

Job growth trounced Dow Jones consensus figures for May, with non-farm payrolls leaping up by a seasonally adjusted 172,000 against the Dow Jones estimate of 80,000. However, the unemployment rate failed to budge, still set at 4.3% (more).

Lululemon cut its full-year guidance even as it delivered a relatively decent Q1 report card, with EPS registered at $1.69 against $1.68 expected and revenue at $2.47 billion versus $2.43 billion anticipated. “We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top line performance,” CEO Meghan Frank said (more).

Google’s multi-vendor Universal Cart, powered by AI, is set to become available soon for Walmart and Target customers. The question of whether shoppers will buy in on the idea remains to be seen (more).