Strategy

Strong results in its PBM business provided a boost during CVS Health’s fiscal third quarter, with the retailer reporting a 23.6% increase in net earnings to $1.5 billion.   Revenue increased 15.5% to $6 billion for the period ended Sept. 30.   

Steadily climbing consumer confidence and retail sales growth have U.S. retail chief marketing officers feeling optimistic ahead of this holiday season.

Black Friday weekend is just around the corner. But as retailers remained focused on one-day sales, exclusive sneak peeks and door busters, they are missing the boat on a much more lucrative opportunity — Singles’ Day.  

L.L. Bean has opened its first store in Cincinnati, at The Kenwood Collection mixed-use center.   The 15,000-sq.-ft. store includes an outpost of the Freeport, Maine-based retailer’s Outdoor Discovery School, which offer demonstrations, clinics and introductory hands-on activities like snowshoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, archery and fly casting.  

Dollar General is rolling out extended store hours, exclusive digital coupons and online-only discounts to woo holiday shoppers this year.   The retailer has announced that its holiday season plans will begin this week with a special discount for military-affiliated shoppers on Friday, Veterans Day.  

The Woodmont Company has hired Pendleton Mills real estate executive John Geddis to handle leasing at the firm’s growing outlet center portfolio. His title will be senior VP of brokerage services.   Geddis gained extensive experience on both the owner and tenant sides of the business in a 20-year career, with stints at Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties, as well as Samsonite. At Pendeton, he oversaw development for the company’s 50 owned retail and outlet locations.  

Restoration Hardware is delving further into interior design services.   The luxe home furnishings company is adding interactive design studios, called RH Design Ateliers, across its entire retail fleet this fall, including more than 50 markets throughout the United States and Canada.    In addition, the retailer has launched a fully integrated design platform, called RH Interior Design, designed to help customers create their dream living spaces.   

“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future," as Nils Bohr, the Nobel laureate physicist put it. But as the end of 2016 approaches, it’s useful to look forward and try to anticipate the cybersecurity trends that lie ahead, and to reflect on what’s happened over the past year, to see how accurate previous predictions were.    For 2016, our predicted cybersecurity threats included:  

A longtime San Francisco grocery banner will soon disappear.    Safeway will acquire Andronico’s Community Markets, which operates five Andronico’s stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.     

Grocery retailer Winn-Dixie opened the second ever location of its next-generation store concept, in the Hyde Park section of Tampa, Florida.