Corporate Governance

New Albany, Ohio – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reportedly plans to shift its marketing and merchandising focus from teens to college students. According to Bloomberg, Abercrombie executives said they will shift marketing, assortments and pricing to appeal to the collegiate market.

Chicago - Mobile and online sales will continue to drive growth for retailers in 2014. However, according to a recent BDO USA survey, a majority (64%) of retail CFOs expect that online sales will grow in 2014, representing a modest decline from the number of CFOs expressing similar sentiments in 2013 (74%).

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. is reportedly attempting to draw in younger customers. According to The Seattle Times, after recently missing quarterly earnings estimates, Costco is taking active steps to attract a younger shopper demographic.

These steps include piloting a same-day delivery service with Google in San Francisco, building up its social and online efforts, and increasing its offerings of organic products such as kale.

Essen, Germany – German supermarket chain Aldi Nord has selected the SAP for Retail solution portfolio to support its dynamic growth and modernize its retailing. The standard enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution will replace the company’s previous in-house system and will be used to manage retail processes at all company locations, from orders and warehouse management to store deliveries.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Domino's Pizza is opening its first store in Paraguay. Grupo Vierci, master franchisee for Domino’s Pizza Paraguay, plans to open three new stores in the Asuncion area of the country by the end of May 2014.

Beachwood, Ohio — DDR has signed a letter of intent to sell its 50% ownership interest in Sonae Sierra Brazil BV Sarl, a Luxembourg company, to Alexander Otto and his affiliates for $343.6 million. DDR’s interest in SSB BV Sarl represents the company’s entire investment in Brazil. The gross proceeds of $346.6 million include $283 million from the negotiated price of R$26.00 per share of SSB, a 67% premium to the closing price on the IBOVESPA as of March 7, and DDR’s stake in Parque Dom Pedro, valued at $60.7 million.

Union, N.J. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has provided preliminary information on its fiscal fourth quarter 2013, including the impact of adverse weather conditions during the period. The company's same-store sales for the fiscal fourth quarter increased by approximately 1.7% as compared with its previous model of an increase of approximately 2% to 4%.

Oak Brook, Ill. – U.S. same-store sales dropped 1.4% at McDonald’s Corp. during February 2014, with global same-store sales declining 0.3%.

Other segment same-store results for McDonald’s during the month included a 0.6% increase in Europe and a 2.6% decrease in Asia-Pacific/Middle East/Africa (APMEA). The company cited severe weather and challenging industry dynamics in affecting its U.S. same-store sales performance.

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Stores recently opened a total of 30 Ross Dress for Less and seven DD’s Discounts stores in 14 different states. These openings are part of the off-price retailer's 2014 expansion plans for about 95 new stores, which will include continuing to build presence in existing markets and grow in the newer markets initially entered in 2011.

Ross believes that long-term expansion opportunities include 2,000 Ross Dress for Less stores and 500 DD’s Discounts stores.

Houston -- Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire the outstanding equity interests of Sleep Experts Partners L.P., which operates Sleep Experts retail stores in Texas. In addition, Mattress Firm completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets and operations of Yotes, Inc., which operated stores under the Mattress Firm brand in Colorado and Kansas, as well as the Virginia retail operations of Southern Max LLC.