Finance & Capital Management

New York City -- Footwear manufacturer and retailer Skechers U.S.A. said Tuesday it has upgraded and expanded its Oracle Applications investment, implemented Oracle Database and moved to Oracle On Demand to support rapid growth across its retail and wholesale channels.

The new business information systems are part of a larger initiative for the billion-dollar-plus footwear company to fuel growth, reduce total cost of ownership and enable the business to respond faster to market opportunities.

STRATHAM, N.H. — The Timberland Company has announced the appointment of Mark Newton as VP corporate social responsibility, effective June 13. In this new role, Mark will lead Timberland's diverse global team responsible for managing the organization's four areas of focus within CSR: environmental stewardship, global human rights, community engagement and transparency and reporting. Mark will report to Carrie Teffner, Timberland's CFO.

The most recent iteration of a pricing study conducted by Credit Suisse shows Target was 4.7% more expensive on a basket of items in Chicago and Dallas compared with 4% the prior month. 

Minneapolis -- Target on Friday announced that Target Canada has reached an agreement to transfer to Walmart Canada the leasehold interests in up to 39 sites, currently operated by Zellers.

Specific locations will be identified later this fall. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co. announced that Patrick McGuiness has been appointed SVP and CFO  and that James Fernandez has been appointed to the newly-created role of COO. 

New York City -- Best Buy plans to reduce its store size by subleasing store space to smaller retailers, according to The Los Angeles Times. The chain’s new stores will be in the 36,000-sq.-ft. range, down from its current 45,000-sq.-ft. model.

"We can reduce our overall square footage while actually increasing our presence," Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said at the company's annual shareholders meeting this week. "It's an opportunity to capture cost savings and get ourselves 'right size.'"

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst David Strasser downgraded shares of Target to neutral from buy on Monday. In doing so he cited some familiar concerns about the challenging competitive environment, rising input costs and anticipated difficulties passing through price increases to cash-strapped shoppers thereby negatively affecting gross margins.

During a question-and-answer style interview in Monday’s USA Today, Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel shared his thoughts on a wide range of topics including Walmart, inflation, designers and competition.