Research Topic

Jelly Belly Candy Company is set to launch a new flavor to its collection: the Draft Beer Jelly Belly jelly bean. Jelly Belly will debut the new flavor at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and ISM in Cologne, Germany.

The beer flavor has been a popular request by consumers for decades, according to the company.

"This took about three years to perfect," Ambrose Lee, research and development manager for Jelly Belly Candy Company, said. "The recipe includes top secret ingredients, but I can tell you it contains no alcohol."

New York -- Mexico's Grupo Gigante expects to raise up to 4.954 billion pesos ($374.14 million) in its initial public offering of Office Depot de Mexico shares, Reuters reported.

The company plans to sell up to 291 million shares, local filings revealed.

The listing is provisionally set to price on Feb. 5, the report said.

In June, Grupo Gigante, acquired the 50% stake in the office supplies chain that it did not already own.
 

New York -- Why do dark horse companies win -- and how do they win?

That topic is the focus of a new book by sales strategist and Elevation Forum founder Dan Mack: “Dark Horse: How Challenger Companies Rise to Prominence.” 

The best leaders and companies bring more than unique products or services to the market -- they consistently tap into the 10 key growth enablers Mack outlines in his book.

By Netta Kelvis, head of marketing, Custora

[Editor’s Note: Custora has released its Holiday 2013 E-Commerce Recap, which is based on the company’s real-time dashboard aggregating data from over 100 U.S. retailers. Here's a blog post by Custora’s head on marketing summarizing the recap's highlights.]  

Montreal - Adverse weather conditions as well as power outages in some of Dollarama’s core markets throughout the month of December 2013 resulted in a significant reduction in store traffic and the temporary closure of approximately 80 stores, for periods ranging from a few hours to two consecutive days. The majority of the impacted days occurred during the two weekends leading up to Dec. 25.

Adverse weather conditions as well as power outages in some of Dollarama’s core markets throughout December 2013 resulted in a significant reduction in store traffic and the temporary closure of approximately 80 stores, for periods ranging from a few hours to two consecutive days. The majority of the impacted days occurred during the two weekends leading up to Dec. 25.

St. Louis – Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. reported declining year-over-year revenues for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 in a partial preliminary earnings release.

On a preliminary basis, Build-A-Bear reported total fourth quarter revenues of $107 million, down 9% from $118.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Preliminary fiscal year revenues were down slightly to $378 million from $380.2 million.