News Briefs

Accessories company Fossil Group has added new talent to its C-suite.

Shannon Freeze has been tapped to serve as the company’s next chief people and communications officer, effective Feb. 23. In the role, she will oversee global communications and engagement, diversity and belonging, human resources, talent management and total rewards.

Freeze most recently served as global benefits, people operations & systems leader at semiconductor company Texas Instruments. During her 13-year tenure, she held various HR leadership positions and was responsible for attracting top talent, developing benefits strategies, and designing a global organization structure to enhance the employee experience.

"We're thrilled to welcome Shannon to Fossil Group,” said Fossil Group CEO Franco Fogliato, who took the reins of the company in September 2024. “As chief people and communications officer and a member of the executive leadership team, Shannon will continue to strengthen our culture, leadership, and organizational capability in support of the company's vision. Her background spans diverse industries, and her extensive international experience grants her a truly global perspective that will enhance our team's outlook.”

Prior to joining Texas Instruments, Freeze worked at DuPont for more than seven years and held multiple HR-related roles.

"Fossil has made meaningful progress over the past year, and I am excited to build on that foundation by helping the organization evolve its talent strategy, deepen leadership effectiveness, and ensure the culture fully supports the company's long-term strategic plan," said Freeze.

[READ MORE: Casper Sleep CFO joins Fossil Group]

Texas-based Fossil Group designs and manufactures watches, jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, belts and sunglasses. Its owned brands include Fossil, Michele, Relic, Skagen and Zodiac, while its licensed brands include Armani Exchange, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, Skechers and Tory Burch.

Target Corp. is reportedly making some changes as it looks to improve its in-store customer experience.

The discounter is increasing its investment in store labor, but eliminating about 500 jobs in distribution centers and regional offices, reported CNBC, which cited an internal employee memo written by Adrienne Costanzo, chief stores officer, and Gretchen McCarthy, chief supply chain and logistics officer.

The move comes about a week after Michael Fiddelke took the reins as Target’s new CEO. In a letter to consumers, employees and business partners posted on the chain’s website, Fiddelke said his strategy moving forward is focused on four priorities. These include “elevating the guest experience” (“by making every store visit and digital interaction easier, more inspiring and more welcoming”).

Target is reducing the number of store districts and putting money toward more hours for frontline store employees, the CNBC report said. As part of the move, the retailer is laying off around 500 people, including about 100 at the store district level and about 400 across its supply chain sites. 

"This change also fuels our ability to put significantly more payroll in our stores – primarily in additional labor and hours where needed most, but also in new guest experience training for every team member at every store,” the email said, reported CNBC.

A majority of consumers – especially younger ones – plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.

That’s according to Numerator’s 2026 Holiday Intentions Preview, which found that nearly two-thirds (65%) of those surveyed plan to celebrate the holiday on Feb. 14, with Gen Z and millennials more likely to celebrate. The top intended plans for Valentine’s Day include celebrating with spouse/partner/family (52%), giving gifts (44%) and baking/cooking special treats or meals (31%).

The majority (75%) of Valentine’s Day shoppers are very or somewhat likely to buy Valentine’s Day-themed products. The top shopping locations for Valentine’s Day purchases are Walmart (50% of Valentine’s Day shoppers), Amazon (35%) and Target (25%).

The top intended purchases for Valentine’s Day, according to the survey, are candy (55%), food (53%) and gifts (28%). Nearly a quarter (22%) of consumers plan to buy alcoholic beverages, with over half of purchasers (53%) planning to opt for wine, followed by spirits (39%), champagne (36%) and beer (33%).

[READ MORE: Valentine’s Day spending expected to set new records]

Numerator found that Valentine’s Day is a casual celebration for most consumers, with 43% rating it as a one or two (on a scale of five) in terms of the effort or enthusiasm put into celebrating the holiday. Nearly half (49%) of celebrators plan for the holiday one to two weeks in advance. Compared to all celebrators, Gen Z celebrators are twice as likely to plan more than six months in advance (12% vs. 6%).

Numerator surveyed more than 5,300 consumers for its 2026 Holiday Intentions Preview.

A leading online floral gift retailer continues offering new online delivery options to its customers.

1-800-Flowers.com’ is now offering delivery of fresh bouquets and gifts from more than 700 participating florist locations throughout the U.S. directly from the Instacart app, timed for Valentine’s Day, which is traditionally the retailer’s biggest sales period of the year. 

[READ MORE: 1-800-Flowers unveils leading-edge tech ahead of Valentine’s Day]

"Our mission is to help people connect and express themselves through thoughtful gifting, and this partnership with Instacart allows us to do that with more speed and greater accessibility than ever before," said Jon Feldman, chief commercial officer at 1-800-Flowers.com. "By bringing our leading floral and gifting collection to the Instacart app in partnership with our local florist network, we're not only supporting local merchants, but also meeting customers where they are already shopping and making it easier for them to share a smile with the important people in their lives, especially during peak moments like Valentine's Day."

The 1-800-Flowers.com partnership with Instacart follows similar collaborations the retailer launched with DoorDash in November 2025 and expanded with Uber Eats in May 2025 after a more limited initial rollout to provide extra delivery capacity during peak rush periods in February 2025. 

"We are excited to welcome 1-800-Flowers.com to the Instacart App to offer our customers convenient access to fresh flowers, just in time for one of the most important holidays for floral delivery," said Blake Wallace, VP of retail partnerships at Instacart. "Through this partnership, Instacart customers will have more flexibility and variety to send gifts to family, friends, and loved ones, offering the same speed and reliability they expect from Instacart for life's special moments."

Costco Wholesale Corp. came out of the gate strong for the new year with healthy sales gains. 

The membership warehouse giant said that its net sales rose 9.3% $21.33 billion for the four weeks ended Feb. 1, 2026.

Total company comparable sales for the period increased 7.1%. Comp sales rose 5.8% in the U.S. and 11.4% in Canada. Other international comp sales rose 9.5%. Digitally-enabled comps surged 34.4%.

Total company comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rose 6.4%, and were up 6.8% in the U.S.

Costco noted that Lunar and Chinese New Years will occur on Feb. 17, 19 days later this year. The shift negatively impacted January.

By merchandising category, non-foods had gains in the low double digits, led by jewelry and tires. Food and sundries rose in the mid single digits. 

Costco currently operates 924 warehouses, including 634 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 114 in Canada, 42 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, three in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland and New Zealand.

Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

 U.S. consumer sentiment improved in February, reaching a six-month high, even as consumers remain concerned about the labor market and the rising cost of living.

In preliminary results for February, the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers reported that its Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 57.3 in February from 56.4 in January. It was the third straight monthly improvement.

The rise in sentiment was mostly by driven by consumers with the largest stock portfolio holdings, according to surveys of consumers director Joanne Hsu, while it stagnated and remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings.

“While sentiment is currently the highest since August 2025, recent monthly increases have been small — well under the margin of error — and the overall level of sentiment remains very low from a historical perspective,” Hsu said.  “Concerns about the erosion of personal finances from high prices and elevated risk of job loss continue to be widespread.”

Consumers were most upbeat about current economic conditions, with that index rising to 58.3 from 55.4 in January. Looking ahead, however, the index of consumer expectations fell 0.7% to 56.6 from 57 in January.

Inflation

Year-ahead inflation expectations fell from 4.0% last month to 3.5% this month, the lowest reading since January 2025. The reading, however, still exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic, noted Hsu.

Long-run inflation expectations inched up for the second straight month, from 3.3% last month to 3.4% this month. In comparison, readings ranged between 2.8% and 3.2% in 2024, and were below 2.8% throughout 2019 and 2020.