Strategy

San Diego - After a successful pilot in Boston and San Francisco, Petco is expanding its partnership with Instacart. Beginning April 28, customers in 14 metro areas served by Instacart can order from Petco stores and have everything delivered in as little as one hour.

Instacart currently serves 15 metro areas: Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The company plans to add several more cities before the end of 2015.

Coppell, Texas – Higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A expenses) helped drive down net income at The Container Store Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, and the retailer expects open nine new stores and relocate one store during fiscal 2015. The Container Store reported net income of $13 million, down 29% from $18.3 million in the same quarter the prior year.

Net sales totaled $224.26 million, up 3% from $216.82 million. Same-store sales dropped 0.8%.

New York - Shareholders for Change at The Children's Place, an activist investor group led by Macellum Advisors GP LLC and Barington Capital Group L.P., has filed a detailed investor presentation with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The presentation supports the election of two board of directors nominees, Seth R. Johnson and Robert L. Mettler, at the upcoming 2015 annual meeting.

Minneapolis – Best Buy Co. Inc., a founder of the MCX retailer consortium that is developing a mobile payment system called CurrentC, will accept Apple Pay in stores starting later in 2015. Apple announced Best Buy’s planned participation in Apple Pay during a call with investors.

Plano, Texas – Rent-A-Center Inc. reported stable profit during the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The retailer’s net income totaled $27.3 million, up 1% from $27.26 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Consolidated total revenues climbed 6% to $877.64 million, from $828.47 million. Same-store sales rose 8%.

Purchase, N.Y. - MasterCard will acquire cloud-based analytics provider Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) for $600 million.

APT’s Test & Learn platform enables users to apply analytics to design, measure and calibrate marketing, merchandising, operations and capital initiatives.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals saying the National Labor Relations Board’s decision to recognize a “micro-union” of workers in a single department at a Macy’s store in Massachusetts was incorrect. According to the trade organizations, allowing workers in a single department instead of the whole store to organize violates longstanding precedents on union organizing.

Chain Store Age recently had the chance to speak with noted consumer trend expert Faith Popcorn, founder and CEO of marketing consulting firm Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, about steps McDonald’s can take to reverse its struggling fortunes. Popcorn’s insights come on the heels of McDonald’s reporting a 33% year-over-year drop in profits for first quarter 2015.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better
According to Popcorn, McDonald’s vast size is not necessarily an asset anymore.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals saying the National Labor Relations Board’s decision to recognize a “micro-union” of workers in a single department at a Macy’s store in Massachusetts was incorrect.

Winter storms and lower sales of its Elfa closet system led to decreased profit for the Container Store in the fourth quarter.