Marketing

New York – Barnes & Noble Inc. is separating its college business from its retail and Nook digital businesses. The planned separation of Barnes & Noble Education (which comprises the Barnes & Noble College business) will, when consummated, create two independent, publicly traded companies.

The separation is intended to be a tax-free distribution to Barnes & Noble shareholders and is anticipated to be completed by the end of August 2015, subject to customary conditions.

New York -- Jay Carney, former White House press secretary for the Obama administration and current CNN analyst, has been appointed senior VP of worldwide corporate affairs for Amazon, effective March 2. The newly created position brings Amazon’s worldwide public relations and public policy shops into one department under Carney.

The news was first reported by Politico, which noted that Carney will leave CNN and divide his time between the online retail giant’s headquarters in Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Apparently a lot of consumers shopped for lingerie and bath products this holiday season, if the profits at L Brands Inc. are any indication.

The Columbus, Ohio-based parent company of Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works reported that it earned $564.8 million, or $1.89 a share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, up from $489.6 million, or $1.65 a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 7% to $4.07 billion and same store sales rose 6%.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney swung to an unexpected loss in its fourth quarter amid heavy holiday discounter. But the retailer reported strong, better-than-expected sales, particularly on the online front.  

Penney posted a loss of $59 million for the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared to a profit of $35 million in the year-ago period. (Penney benefitted from a one-time tax benefit last year.)
 
Total sales rose 2.9% to $3.89 billion from $3.78 billion a year ago. Online sales rose 12.5% to $428 million from a year ago.

Better than expected fourth quarter same store sales growth and big increase in gross margins have JCPenney eyeing potentially faster topline growth in 2015.

The company said its same store sales for fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 increased 4.4%, above the forecast range of 2% to 4% provided at the end of the third quarter. Total sales increased 2.9% to nearly $3.9 billion and online sales grew 12.5% to $428 million.

The Center for Retailing Excellence just scored another coup with the addition of Walmart COO Judith McKenna to the agenda for an upcoming conference that already included Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

The Center, part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, is scheduled to hold its annual Emerging Trends in Retail conference on June 11 at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale near Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville headquarters.

St. Petersburg, Fla. – HSN Inc. had a successful fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, beating Wall Street estimates for both net income and sales. Net income rose 11% to $68.3 million from $61.6 million, while net sales grew 10% to $1.12 billion from $1.1 billion.

Digital grew 12%, reaching a milestone of representing more than half HSN’s business. Mobile remains the company’s fastest-growing platform with growth of 40% in the quarter.

Jay Carney spent three years parsing words as president Barack Obama’s top spokesman and now has joined Amazon.com as senior vice president of worldwide corporate affairs, according to Politico.