Corporate Governance

New York -- Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) on Tuesday posted a 36% jump in its first quarter profit, easily beating forecasts, and confirmed earlier reports that it plans to open 400 stores in its current fiscal year, with most of the locations in China and the United States. In New York, it will open a 61,000-sq.-ft. flagship — one of the largest H&Ms to date — in Manhattan’s Herald Square area.
   

Washington, D.C. - The Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center  has expanded the capabilities of its Retail Information Sharing Analysis Center (Retail ISAC) with the establishment of an intelligence sharing portal managed by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC).

New York  -- Ikea will open its largest U.S. store on a 22-acre site in Burbank, California. As the first step in the construction process, the retailer must demolish 19 existing structures on the site. The new 456,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open in spring 2017.

Reflecting the company’s commitment to sustainability, Ikea plans to recycle, repurpose or salvage as much of the existing buildings’ equipment, materials, and parts as possible.
 

Waban, Mass. – Supermarket chain H-E-B is the most trusted chain in the most trusted niche of retail. H-E-B took the top spot in the 2015 Temkin Trust Ratings, which measured the trust of 10,000 U.S. consumers across 293 companies in 20 industries.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – It probably takes less to satisfy the average consumer than it does to satisfy Mick Jagger, but even still, consumers can’t seem to get any satisfaction these days. According to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the national level of customer satisfaction dropped 0.5% to 75.2 in fourth quarter 2014.

Dusseldorf, Germany – Germany-based global retailer Metro Group has partnered with Frequentz, Inc., a provider of end-to-end visibility solutions, to build customer trust through supply chain transparency. Frequentz's track and trace system will provide Metro with the tools it needs to monitor pharmaceuticals, seafood and produce across stores in 31 countries.

Frequentz's system is not solely reliant on GS1 standards but adaptable to all companies regardless of standards deployed, simplifying international traceability.

New York -- Toys “R” Us’ priorities for 2015 include advancing its mobile capabilities, improving its Babies “R” Us business and reducing costs in a drive to become more efficient, company executives said Tuesday during a media presentation in New York. The retailer will also continue to work on transforming its online and in-store customer experience, and debut two store prototypes this year, one for its namesake brand and the other for Babies, later this year.  

Bellport, N.Y. – Perfumania Holdings is launching a new digital corporate platform. Conceived and built by Ready Set Rocket, the new Perfumania digital corporate presence includes a fully redesigned corporate website.

In addition, Ready Set Rocket set forth a digital strategy for the new Perfumania Holdings digital corporate identity focused on the following core elements: