Marketing

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. beat Wall Street expectations for net income and sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2015.  Net income totaled $496 million, up 17% from $425 million the same period a year earlier.   Lower opening expenses and higher interest income helped boost profits.   Total revenue grew 7% to $26.87 million from $25.02 million. Total same-store sales rose 5%.

A trio of top executives at The Buckle were elevated to new roles at the 463 store specialty retailer.

Kelli Molczyk, with the retailer since 1999, was named Vice President of Women’s Merchandising after most recently serving as Divisional Merchandise Manager. Prior to that she held a variety of roles with the company in which she was instrumental in design and marketing efforts.

Michaels is partnering with a new ad agency on a $180 million marketing plan as the arts and crafts retailer looks to weave a quilt of higher sales and market share.

Zimmerman Advertising will perform a range of key functions for Michaels, working with a total marketing budget of $180 million and focusing on strategic planning, analytics, digital media planning and buying and social media.

Fairway Market announced that Howard Glickberg, whose grandfather took a fruit and vegetable stand in New York and turned it into a 15-store grocery chain, is retiring.

Glickberg most recently served as vice chair of real estate development for Fairway. He will remain a member of the retailer’s board of directors, Fairway said. He worked with the company for more than 40 years, serving as its CEO until 2011.

CANTON, Mass. - Dunkin’ Donuts is launching its own green building certification program, called DD Green, to help franchisees build sustainable, energy-efficient restaurants.    In conjunction with the announcement, the company is celebrating the grand opening of a DD Green certified Dunkin' Donuts restaurant in Long Beach, California. Dunkin' Donuts will work with franchisees and construction managers to build 100 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants DD Green certified by the end of 2016.

Chicago - Nearly half of CFOs expect the U.S. economy to improve during the next six months and only 9% expect it to worsen, according to the Grant Thornton LLP 2014 Fall CFO Survey. The biannual survey reflects the insights of more than 1,000 CFOs and other senior financial executives across the United States.  

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Rolling Stones fans will sympathize with the devilish problem facing American customers, who couldn’t get satisfaction in the third quarter of 2014. The national level of customer satisfaction fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 to 75.6 on a 100-point scale, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), pointing to weak spending growth for the fourth quarter.   

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with net income but missed on revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income dramatically shot up to $14.7 million from $1 million in the same period a year earlier, aided by costs and expenses that remained level or dropped.   Revenue fell 3% to $1.95 billion from $2.02 billion, with declining fuel sales offsetting rising merchandising sales.   

Kearney, Neb. – The Buckle Inc. has made a number of reappointments to its executive staff. Kelli D. Molczyk has been appointed to the position of VP of women’s merchandising, Diane L. Applegate has been appointed to the position of VP of supply chain and merchandising operations, and Thomas B. Heacock has been appointed to the position of VP of finance, treasurer, and corporate controller and has been appointed as a member of the company’s executive committee.   

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - JDA Software announced the creation of JDA Labs – a research and development group assembled to drive game-changing innovation.   This global team, headquartered in Montreal, will innovate new and existing products and deliver patents, best practices and entirely new products to the market. JDA Labs currently  is driving research and innovation around three key areas: data science, user experience and product innovation.