Corporate Governance

Coppell, Texas -- Alco Stores Inc. on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with plans to liquidate or sell the business.    The 113-year-old retailer and its subsidiary, Alco Holdings Ltd Liability Co., filed voluntary petitions for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.  It listed assets of $221.7 million and debt of $161.6 million.  

By Steven Pinder, Tom White and Kurt Kendall    Retailers are being squeezed by growing consumer individualism, globalization and evolving preferences. These pan-industry pressure points are causing a proliferation of SKUs that retailers must now nimbly administer. And with online competition eating into already-low margins, the challenge for brick-and-mortar retailers is clear: Find a better way to manage assortment practices.  

New York -- Smart machines, mobile and digital business transformation all weigh heavily in tech research giant Gartner’s top 10 predictions for IT organizations and users in 2015 and beyond.    Here is an overview of Gartner's top 10 trends:    

Amazon once again takes the lead in disruptive news with reports it will open its first-ever physical store in New York City on West 34th Street, across from the Empire State Building and down the street from the iconic Macy’s flagship store. Even more than for its impressive location, the store is notable as the ultimate symbol of the continuing primacy of brick-and-mortar in the omnichannel environment.

 

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart is the latest retailer to be hit by a payment data breach. The breach was discovered last Thursday by the chain’s information technology team, and the company immediately launched an investigation with a leading security firm, according to Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp.   

New York -- Last week, SAP hosted its annual Retail Forum in the palatial confines of the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan. Within the elegant surroundings a lot of very practical and down-to-earth information about the latest retail IT trends was dispersed. Here are three tech trends retailers should pay extra close attention to.   Predictive Analytics  

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney on Monday appointed Marvin Ellison president and CEO-designee, effective Nov. 1. Ellison, executive VP of stores for Home Depot, will also join the company’s board of directors.

Ellison, 49, will succeed Mike Ullman, III, as CEO of Penney on Aug. 1, 2015, when Ullman will become executive chairman of the board for one year.

Kmart said its store payment systems were penetrated by cybercriminals who used a form of malware undetectable by current anti-virus systems.

The retailer said its information technology team on October 9 detected its payment data systems had been breached and immediately launched a full investigation working with a leading IT security firm. It was determined the breach began in early September and upon detection Kmart said it was able to quickly remove the malware.

Water conservation is big business for the nation’s largest home improvement retailer who earned accolades from the Environmental Protection Agency for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense devices.

The EPA named Home Depot a 2014 WaterSense Partner of the year for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense labeled products which helped customers save an estimated 42.5 billion gallons of water and more than $358 million in water related utility costs. The retailer said the water saved is enough to supply 291,000 U.S. homes for a full year.

Regional discounter ALCO Stores succumbed to market pressures and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The operator of 198 stores in 23 states was founded in 1901 and sought to serve small underserved markets with a broad range of value priced merchandise.