Corporate Governance

Franklin, Tenn. - Worldwide POS hardware shipments showed a sharp increase in the first half of 2014. According to IHL Group's POS Vendor Data Service, which tracks POS shipments by vendors and retail segments worldwide, in the first six months of the year, Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) and North America showed by far the greatest growth in POS shipments.

Berwyn, Pa. - 4R Systems, Inc, a provider of inventory and supply chain services, and Impact Analytics & Services, a solutions and services provider to convenience store retailers, have launched a strategic partnership. The alliance was created to deliver more powerful supply chain analytics to convenience retailers, and beyond analytics, to increase profit from inventory across all items in all stores.

Matthews, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores on Friday rejected the sweetened, $9.1 billion take-over bid made by Dollar General on Sept.

Seattle - Starbucks Coffee Company will launch two new store formats in fiscal 2015, include a smaller-format concept aimed at urban commuters and a more premium store concept — Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room — dedicated to the chain’s highbrow Reserve brand of coffees.

Family Dollar has rejected the revised proposal made by Dollar General on Sept. 2 on the basis of antitrust regulatory considerations. The Dollar General offer may be financially superior, the dollar store operator noted, but it's not likely to pass muster with the Federal Trade Commission.
 

Just a few days after electing a whole new board of directors, Alco announced that newly elected director Stanley B. Latacha will assume the role of interim CEO, effective immediately.

Several Home Depot customers have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleging that Home Depot failed to meet its legal obligation to protect their credit card and personal information and failed to timely warn them that such information had been stolen or that the security and privacy of such information had been compromised.

Dick’s Sporting Goods has upgraded its mobile app to incude features such as access to the specialty retailer’s ScoreCard rewards program, a store locator and in-app purchase functionality.

Users will also receive personalized coupons and offers. Built-in barcode scanner functionality allows users to scan product and marketing QR codes in-store for information, including product description, news, price and user reviews. The app is integrated with Dick’s Sporting Goods’ social media channels.
 

Bebe has taken significant steps to refocus on the Bebe brand, to preserve cash and to gain operating efficiencies across the organization. The retailer put these measures into effect by making changes in leadership, closing its 2b division and restructuring its corporate office, including retail management.

But the discontinuation of its 2b business, which was shut down July 5, took a bite out of the company’s second quarter, prompting the retailer to issue preliminary results.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have amended their merger agreement to include a commitment by Dollar Tree to divest as many stores as necessary or advisable to obtain antitrust clearance for the previously announced cash and stock transaction.

All other terms and conditions of the merger agreement remain the same as announced on July 28, 2014. The two companies also said that their expectations for a closing date for the transaction have accelerated to as early as the end of November 2014.