Strategy

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA Online offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern Calif.-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven.

Hhgregg is offering online ordering with in-store pickup for Apple products, including iPhone, iPad and iPod models and Apple TV devices.

The move comes just a couple of weeks following the retailer’s preliminary third-quarter results which revealed poor performance in the consumer electronics and wireless categories and were below the company’s expectations.

Cincinnati – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) with respect to the pending merger transaction between The Kroger Co. and Harris-Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. The early termination of the HSR waiting period satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the pending merger, which remains subject to other customary closing conditions.

Dallas — Corner Bakery Café ended 2013 with a multi-unit restaurant development agreement to open eight new restaurants in the Sacramento area with a new franchise partner, East Bay restaurants of Pleasanton, Calif.

East Bay owns and operates 48 Burger King and seven Taco Bell restaurants. The group of veteran restaurant operators plans to open its first Corner Bakery in 2014 and the remaining seven over the next five years.

Big data, the cloud and cognitive systems that learn are transforming the future of retail and IBM chairman, president and CEO Ginni Rometty explained during a stimulating and insightful presentation at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention.

“We’ve clearly entered a world that is mobile first,” Rometty said. “It is easy to say, but hard to do.”

The malicious attack on Target which resulted in a massive data breach has spawned a “we’re all in this together” attitude among the nation’s retailers with the National Retail Federation spearheading the charge for common sense consumer protection measures.

Foremost among them is usage of the more secure Chip and PIN technology in credit and debit cards that offers better encryption of data than the magnetic stripe cards that are prevalent in the U.S.

New York -- Target Corp. has signed a lease to open a 20,000-sq.-ft. location in Minneapolis that will serve as a test of a new format called TargetExpress, the New York Times reported. The new unit, considerably smaller than CityTarget’s 80,000- to 125,000-sq.-ft. footprint, would be the chain’s smallest store to date.

Leading beauty products manufacturer Elizabeth Arden is the latest company to cite an intensely promotional marketplace as the reason for worse-than-expected holiday season sales and profits.

The company said sales for its second quarter ended Dec. 31, would be in the range of $414 to $418 million and earnings per share would be between $1.13 and $1.16, substantially below sales of $468 million and earnings of $1.47 during the same period the prior year.