Corporate Governance

Specialty vertical apparel retailer Perry Ellis International is solidifying its enterprise approach to the systems that support store processes.

Perry Ellis teamed with retail system integration and development services provider BTM Global to implement Oracle Retail Point-of-Service (ORPOS) v14 and Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management (SIM) v14 for its stores throughout the U.S.

When it comes to making online customers happy, one well-known name stands at the top.

Fourth quarter data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows Amazon.com led all online retailers with a score of 83.out of 100. Compared to the prior year, overall Internet retail customer satisfaction slipped 2.4% to a score of 80 out of 100. This still leads all other retail categories in the Index.

Atlanta-based The Home Depot reported record fourth-quarter and fiscal year results, as it emphasized "the interconnected customer experience" and rode a recovering U.S. housing market.

The company's fourth-quarter sales were a record $21.0 billion, up 9.5% from the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the three months were $1.5 billion, compared with $1.4 billion a year ago.

Comp-store sales for the fourth quarter were up 7.1%, and up 8.9% for U.S. stores.

An incentive program is in the works in California that would make it easier for food retailers to prevent harmful refrigerant emissions. If approved, the Refrigerant Incentive Program will be the beginning of the end of supermarkets’ struggles with endless refrigerant phase outs, regulations, and government refrigerant dictates.

Where Does the Money Come From?

Office Depot continues to hope its merger with Staples secures approval from U.S. regulators, but in the meantime the performance of its retail operations is looking much better should it remain an independent company.

Office Depot’s North American retail footprint did shrink to 1,564 locations at the end of the year after the company closed a total of 181 stores, including 56 in the fourth quarter. Thinning the herd a bit helped the overall profitability of Office Depot’s largest division during the period ended Dec. 26 even though sales declined.

CVS Health's decision to stop selling cigarettes is having its intended impact - 52% of those consumers who used to buy their cigarettes from CVS say it is now harder to buy cigarettes altogether, according to a survey commissioned by V2, a manufacturer of electronic cigarette and vaporizer products. Out of that group, 73% called the impact manageable, stating that “buying cigarettes is now harder but I have other options” and 27% said it made buying them “much harder.”

It’s not going to be so easy for the 11 million-plus active members of Starbuck Corp.’s loyalty program to earn freebies.

Starting in mid-April, the coffee giant is making a change in its “My Starbucks Rewards” loyalty program whereby members will earn points, or “stars,” based on the dollars spent on the purchase. Currently, customers earn a star for each transaction, regardless of how much they spent, and are entitled to a free item after earning 12 stars.