Retail

Severe weather that persisted during the year’s shortest month affected Gap’s February sales results. 

The company reported net sales for the four-week period ended March 1 of $929 million, compared with net sales of $966 million for the four-week period ended March 2, 2013. Comparable-store sales for the month declained 7%, versus last year’s 3% increase.

“While February was clearly a difficult month, we remain focused on executing our global priorities,” said chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy.

Target’s database breach in December 2013 not only affected the retailer’s fourth quarter comparable store sales, but also contributed to plummeting shopper penetration post-holiday.

Kantar Retail ShopperScape data indicates that just 33% of U.S. households reported shopping at Target or SuperTarget during January 2014, the lowest penetration number for Target in the past three years, and a 22% decrease in penetration compared to January 2013.

Coupons.com has gone public. The digital promotional platform has priced its initial public offering of 10,500,000 shares of common stock at $16 per share, which is above the reported expected range of $12 to $14.

Coupons.com has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,575,000 shares. Shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under ticker symbol "COUP."

Goldman, Sachs & Co., Allen & Company LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets LLC are acting as bookrunners.

Big Lots has elevated CFO Timothy A. Johnson’s to EVP, CFO. Johnson has served as financial chief since 2012 with primary responsibility for all financial disciplines within the company including financial reporting and controls, treasury, risk management, tax, internal audit, financial planning and analysis and investor relations.

Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of the Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie supermarket chains, plans to convert seven existing Harveys stores to Winn-Dixie stores and three existing Winn-Dixie stores to Harveys stores.

The stores are part of the pending acquisition of 134 operating stores from Delhaize Group.

Air Wick has launched a Familiar Favorites collection, which is inspired by the scents of brands like Snuggle, Cinnabon and Baby Magic.

"Scent has the power to evoke a unique sense of comfort when you surround yourself with fragrances you know and love," said Domenick Tiziano, senior brand manager, Reckitt Benckiser. "We're thrilled to be partnering with three of America's most recognizable and beloved brands for this new collection, so consumers can enjoy the comforting scents they love at home anytime."

National Retail Federation president and CEO Matthew Shay and chief economist Jack Kleinhenz issued a response to the organization’s February jobs report.

“While there are signs of modest momentum in the economy, now is not the time to play partisan politics with the recovery by forcing federal mandates on retailers and small business owners like an increase in the minimum wage,” Shay said. “Such policy decisions could hamper economic growth and actually drive up the unemployment rate.”

MasterCard and Visa have teamed up to form a new cross-industry group focused on enhancing payment system security to keep pace with the expectations of consumers, retailers and financial institutions.

News of the group’s formation comes as retailers like Target continue to deal with fallout from the data breaches that first came to light December 2013 and which continue to dominate headlines.