Strategy

New York City -- The family of a 4-year-old Massachusetts boy who died after falling from an escalator at the Auburn Mall, in Auburn, Mass., have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that alleges the escalator was "dangerous and defective" and did not follow state codes or the blueprint for its installation.

Like many of you, I just got back from RECon, and I’m still processing what I saw and heard. One thing that was interesting to me was the fact that it seemed like burger concepts were on everybody’s site plans, from In-N-Out Burger to Smashburger and Five Guys. If you like a good burger -- and, who doesn’t -- this is great news. If you are a developer or landlord though, I think you should proceed with some caution.

“The economic model of Outlet is the highest return on capital and is where customers gravitate," Gap CEO Glenn Murphy said at an investment conference in New York City, where he revealed the company will close 200 U.S. Gap stores and expand its outlet base.

But don’t expect the stores to be filled with last year’s castoffs.

"I don't want them bringing stripes in the stores if stripes are last year's idea,” Murphy said.

New York City -- With global e-commerce estimated to reach nearly $1.4 trillion in 2015, more and more retailers are looking to gear up or expand their online operations. A new report by Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) sizes up the challenges and opportunities -- and outlines best practices -- for retailers who want to take advantage of e-commerce growth by going global.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target ended last year with sales of $67.4 billion and earnings per share of $4, but if company chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel has his way, within six or seven years earnings per share will double to $8 and sales will top $100 billion.

WASHINGTON — The retail industry won a big victory in Washington, D.C., as the Senate defeated an amendment that proposed to delay swipe-fee reform for another 12 months.

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway is bringing Coinstar's self-service coin-counting kiosks to its U.S. and Canada stores, the supermarket retailer announced Thursday.

Safeway said it agreed to install 1,400 Coinstar kiosks by the end of 2011, with installations slated to begin this month in Safeway stores and its banners, including Vons, Dominick's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Carrs and Pak N' Save.

HINGHAM, Mass. — Talbots announced that it has named Lesli Gilbert SVP stores, effective June 27. In this role, Gilbert will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Talbots core retail operations in the United States and Canada, as well as supporting the implementation of the company’s store reimage and rationalization programs. She will report directly to Trudy Sullivan, president and CEO of the Talbots.

With a topic of “Building stronger relationships with Walmart,” the room should be packed with suppliers next week when Walmart SVP Laura Phillips takes the stage at the Doing Business in Bentonville speaker series. The event will be held from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15 at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers, Ark. Click here for more information.

The enormity of the Chinese e-commerce opportunity was mentioned last week by Wan Ling Martello at Walmart’s shareholders meeting, when the COO of global e-commerce described how China’s online market is projected to quadruple to $300 billion in five years. Walmart obviously wants to be part of that growth and looked to shorten its learning curve earlier this year by acquiring a minority stake in fast growing online grocer Yihaodian.