Finance & Capital Management

Carpinteria, Calif. -- With more Americans using credit, debit and prepaid goods to pay for goods and services, the amount merchants pay to process those cards continues to rise.

Retail consulting firm McMillanDoolittle has posted an interesting blog on Gap Inc.’s ongoing efforts to turnaround its troubled namesake brand. Here is the full posting:

While 2014 was rocky for a great many retailers, with several thousand store closings across most categories of retail, the first half of 2015 has seen some encouraging signs of a modest resurgence in certain retail sectors and from select brands. The higher numbers of store closings are far from over, and it would not be accurate to refer to 2015 as a total turnaround, but it does seem noteworthy that there are significant categories of retail that have aggressively moved to capitalize on opportunities.

The recent admission by Mickey Drexler to making “mistakes” while explaining the results of two J.Crew sweaters – one successful, one not – shined a bright light on the importance of each new product decision and the consequences of getting it wrong. In the grand scheme of things, one or two bad decisions do not always make or break a company. But when you string multiple bad decisions together, the stakes are much higher.

Washington, D.C. - Retailers lose billions of dollars to shoplifting, employee and vendor theft and administrative error, collectively known as inventory shrink.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF)/University of Florida National Retail Security Survey, inventory shrink averaged 1.38% of retail sales, or $44 billion, in 2014. (The methodology for the survey changed in 2015 and as such, NRF does not have comparable data from prior years for this year’s report.) The report was sponsored by The Retail Equation.  

Conshohocken, Pa. – Home furnishings giant Ikea is increasing the minimum wage it pays to U.S. employees in stores and some distribution centers for the second straight year.

According to the Associated Press, Ikea’s average U.S. minimum hourly wage will rise about 10% to $11.87 from $10.76 as of Jan. 1, 2016.

New York -- The combination of Royal Ahold and Delhaize Groupe creates a new super-regional chain along the Eastern Seaboard that will serve 50 million customers weekly and generate annual sales of more than $60 billion.

The merger announcement was highly anticipated following months of speculation followed by confirmation of talks between the companies. Now that the merger agreement has been reached, Ahold and Delhaize said they expect the deal to close by mid-2016.

The combination of Royal Ahold and Delhaize Groupe creates a new super-regional chain along the Eastern Seaboard that will serve 50 million customers weekly and generate annual sales of more than $60 billion.

The merger announcement was highly anticipated following months of speculation followed by confirmation of talks between the companies. Now that the merger agreement has been reached, Ahold and Delhaize said they expect the deal to close by mid-2016.

Retailers are losing billions of dollars to shoplifting, employee/vendor theft and administrative error, according to the National Retail Federation.

True Value Company is expanding its presence in Puerto Rico, part of a long-term strategy to boost its global presence.