Finance & Capital Management

Home Depot has revealed a new set of ambitious financial targets it expects to achieve in three years by focusing on a uniquely Home Depot strategy called, “interconnecting retail.”

Various technology analysts, retail industry pundits, and economists of all stripes, have long predicted the demise of paper and coin currency along with the dawn of a cashless society.

And it is true that over the last few years, we’ve seen a big acceleration in the drive towards large-scale consumer adoption of new digital payments technologies, especially in the mobile category.

AutoZone says inventory efficiency improvements allowed the retailer to increase sales and profit in the first quarter.

For the period ended Nov. 21, net sales were $2.4 billion, an increase of 5.6% from the prior year quarter. Same-store sales increased 3.5% for the quarter. Net income for the quarter increased 8.3% over the same period last year to $258.1 million, while diluted earnings per share increased 14% to $8.29 per share from $7.27 per share in the year-ago quarter.

The combination of acquisitions, new unit expansion and same-store sales growth enabled Mattress Firm to achieve record third quarter results and the company’s biggest deal ever is expected to close in 2016.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has offered to buy Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack in a deal valuing the U.S. auto parts retailer at about $837 million, trumping Bridgestone's offer of $810 million in October.

The man who built a retail empire by inspiring a generation of shoppers to stock their kitchens with garlic presses and soufflé pans has died.

Charles E. “Chuck” Williams, founder and director emeritus of Williams-Sonoma Inc., died of natural causes over the weekend, the company announced. He was 100 years old.

It’s like it is 1997 all over again with the Federal Trade Commission stepping in to block a merger between Staples and Office Depot on grounds that the deal would diminish competition.

Nordstrom continues to invest in new shopping models with the announcement that it is expanding its partnership with Shoes of Prey, a start-up that enables women to customize shoes online.