Corporate Governance

As Amazon.com deals with the fallout from a New York Times article over working conditions, another media outlet reports the retailer is scaling back its consumer device division and laying off dozens of employees in its hardware development center.

The division, called Lab126, last year released a flurry of 10 devices, including a television set-top box, the Echo and a wand for scanning bar codes at home, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a first, West Elm, a Williams-Sonoma subsidiary, will make its products available outside of the brand’s own stores and website.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores raised more than $217,000 for Make-A-Wish this past spring, when it held a two-week charitable program.

Fred's Super Dollar says it has contacted a consulting firm to help it improve profitability after the retailer remained unprofitable for its fifth consecutive quarter.

Dollar General grew customer traffic and average ticket for the 30th consecutive quarter even as the company refocuses on efforts to strengthen topline growth.

Burlington Stores Inc. has joined the cadre of profitable off-price retailers in the second quarter with a round of impressive sales results.

The company swung to a net income of $10.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 from a net loss of $6.47 million the same quarter of last year. Decreases in stock option and interest expenses, as well as some impairment charges, helped bring Burlington to profitability.

Net sales rose 10% to $1.14 billion from $1.04 billion, while same-store sales grew 5.6%.

New York – L.L. Bean continues to win top marks in overall customer service.

According to the latest quarterly Stella Service benchmarks, perennial high finisher L.L. Bean took top customer service honors in second quarter 2015. Following L.L. Bean were Mr. Porter, Shopbop, David Yuman and Net-a-Porter.

New York -- Technology-related spending by chief marketing officers (CMOs) is on the rise.

According to a study from Foundation Capital, technology spend by CMOs will increase 10 fold in 10 years, growing from $12 billion to $120 billion.
 

Plano, Texas – The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is in the green – green energy savings, that is.

The retailer on Wednesday announced the long-term results of various company initiatives that incorporate sustainability practices in its day-to-day business operations. It also said it would unveil a new energy initiative later this year.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. has released an estimate of costs related to its 2013 data breach.

In a 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Target estimated it had incurred $168 million in liabilities and was eligible for $55 million in insurance reimbursements (as of August 1, 2015).