Retail

Dollar Tree’s fourth quarter results were affected by the extra week in last year’s fourth quarter as well as continued economic challenges.

On a year-over-year basis, net income during the fourth quarter declined about 7% to $213 million from $228.6 million, and during the full year fell about 4% to $596.7 million from $619.3 million.

Target continues to cope with the fallout of a data breach, which, as expected, hurt the company’s fourth-quarter results.

The company incurred $61 million in expenses related to the breach during the quarter, but was able to bring the total impact to $17 million after applying a $44 million insurance payment.

But the retailer added that it is not only unable to estimate future expenses related to the data breach but also warned that those costs may adversely affect operations results in the first quarter and full-year 2014 and future periods.

Bed Bath & Beyond has promoted Eugene A. Castagna, previously CFO and treasurer, to the role of chief operating officer. Susan E. Lattmann, formerly VP of finance, will fill the CFO and treasurer spot.

Hispanic consumers are outpacing non-Hispanics in their adoption of mobile, social and online sources for local shopping, according to BIA/Kelsey's Consumer Commerce Monitor study released this week. 

Procter & Gamble, in support of the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Awareness Week 2014, announced the launch of its newest fabric care line, the Sweet Dreams Collection.

Severe winter weather was no match for Lowe’s in the fourth quarter. The company reported sales of $11.7 billion, up 5.6% from the same quarter last year, as comps increased 3.9%.

The company also posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $306 million, up 6.3%.

The TJX Companies CEO Carol Meyrowitz touted the company’s performance in the fourth quarter and fiscal 2014, calling it a successful year despite a competitive retail environment and generally unfavorable weather in many of its regions during the first and fourth quarters.

Discount Coupons has acquired Daily Deal Builder (DDB), a Daily Deal software and solutions provider.

DDB’s software platform allows anyone to set up, manage and host a feature-rich Daily Deal or coupon website. Currently, more than 150 companies in the U.S. and abroad utilize DDB as their Daily Deal software provider. DDB Founders Marc and Tyler Horne will remain with DDB and form part of the company's growing staff.