Strategy

The nature of competition in the retail industry is not what it used to be. Decades of consolidation concentrated sales among a top tier of mega-retailers fueled deal-making among product manufacturers and others who serve the retail industry.

The top 10 U.S. retailers now account for more than $1,200,000,000,000 (zeroes added for effect) and that figure swells to $1.5 trillion if the next 10 largest are include. The big have gotten bigger and will continue to do so in the near term, however there is also a dramatic “re-fragmentation” of the retail industry underway.

St. Louis – Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. has named Chris Hurt as COO. Hurt has more than 20 years of retail experience in senior leadership roles and most recently held the position of senior VP of North America at American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

Hurt will lead the Build-A-Bear Workshop retail and operations teams to drive sales and profits, while promoting ongoing growth for the business. He will oversee all business operations, including the corporate strategy and structure for stores. He will report to Sharon Price John, CEO.

Philadelphia -- Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust and The Macerich Company announced that they have reached a tentative agreement with the City of Philadelphia on a redevelopment and re-branding of the Gallery shopping mall and transit center in the heart of Center City.

New concepts are the lifeblood of retailing. Here are six new stores — three homegrown formats and three imports — that are currently in the works:

Commerce, Calif. - Smart & Final Stores Inc. is pricing an underwritten public offering of 10 million shares of its common stock at $18.50 per share. The shares are owned by certain stockholders of the company, including affiliates of Ares Management L.P.

Membership-based online retailer Jet is partnering with QVC parent company Liberty Interactive’s marketing and virtual inventory solutions provider CommerceHub to help retailers and brand capitalize on the soon-to-launch Jet e-commerce platform.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. is reportedly nearing a $20 million settlement with MasterCard to cover costs related to the retailer’s 2013 data breach. According to the Wall Street Journal, the settlement would pay for the cost of reissuing payment cards and some fraud that resulted from improper use of consumer data.

Sources indicate Target and MasterCard have been negotiating for months. TJX paid a similar sum to MasterCard to settle costs from a 2008 data breach.
 

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) is publicly supporting the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s consideration of the Data Security and Breach Notification Act. In a public statement, Mallory Duncan, senior VP and general counsel NRF, said strong tools are needed to combat criminal breaches.