Corporate Governance

Denton, Texas – Fewer than 25,000 customer credit card numbers may have been exposed in a recent security breach at Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. The retailer said in a statement that an investigation by Verizon indicates credit card data may have been taken by hackers.

Hong Kong – Chinese e-commerce platform provider Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is reportedly planning a U.S. initial public offering (IPO). According to Bloomberg, Alibaba has received approval from Hong Kong regulators for its proposed governance structure.

Birmingham, Ala. – Net income and sales declined at Hibbett Sports Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income dropped 13% from $19.6 million in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year to $16.4 million, while net sales inched upward 0.2% to $217.8 million from $217.4 million.

Same-store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter. Hibbett Sports cited slowing sales in January due to inclement weather and a less favorable sales impact from the national college football championship game as impacting net income.

Milwaukee – Roundy’s Supermarkets has selected Symphony EYC Customer Insights behavioral insights platform and expertise to enable customer-centric business processes. With Symphony EYC, Roundy's will gain and leverage consumer insights to optimize product selection, customer communication and other critical functions across all Roundy's grocery stores and pharmacies throughout the Midwest.

New York -- Sears Holdings Corp. said its board has approved the spin on of its Lands’ End business, effective April 4, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
The agreement, which was announced in December, will make Lands' End an independent company that will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “LE.”

Sears stockholders on record as of March 24 will receive about 0.3 shares of Lands' End common stock for each share of Sears they own.

The Disney and Starbucks brands provide design inspiration for the  coffee giant's first company-run location on Disney property in the United States. The 5,600-sq.-ft. store, at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, Calif., uses customized content and technology to engage and inform, from a video installation that documents the Starbucks story to an interactive digital chalkboard that customers of all ages can draw and write on.

Leading online cash back shopping platform Ebates has acquired Extrabux, a free comparison-shopping website where consumers discover the best prices, find coupons and earn cash back on their online purchases.

As a result, the two companies have a growing membership base in China and have launched Ebates.cn.

Lands' End will be back on its own as a publicly traded company following a formal announcement by parent company Sears Holdings to spin off the well-known apparel brand.

The move follows years of speculation that Sears would divest the brand, which it acquired in May 2002 for $62 a share. At the time, Lands' End was a publicly traded company with revenues of nearly $1.6 billion, profits of $67 million and earnings per share of $2.23. The $62 a share Sears paid 12 years ago represented a 21.5% premium over the closing pricing of $51.02 prior to the announcement of the deal.

Kronos Foods, a privately held, leading manufacturer of gyros and other Mediterranean and specialty foods, has named Howard Eirinberg as the company's CEO.

Eirinberg, who succeeds long-time CEO Michael Austin, now chairman of Kronos Food, joined the company in 2011 to lead all sales and marketing initiatives for the company's wide-ranging operations in meat, bakery, dairy, dessert, restaurant and distribution. Eirinberg is credited for growing sales by launching new products like chicken shawarma into the club and foodservice channels.

Land of Nod was founded 18 years ago as an online retailer of furniture, décor and bedding for infants and kids but has since become an omnichannel operator with an upscale brand.
 
The company currently operates five stores in California, Illinois and Seattle. Managing director Michelle Kohanzo shared some perspective on what it’s like to work at an omnichannel retailer in the latest installment of This Is Retail from the National Retailer Federation.