Retail

The Container Store is marking Valentine’s Day with the launch of its Employee First Fund — an employee assistance fund that will provide grants to employees experiencing unforeseen emergencies, a major medical situation, a catastrophic event or other challenges in life that they are not financially prepared to handle.

Dallas — Zuri Furniture has deployed Yottaa Engagement Cloud to optimize user engagement and business performance. To scale online operations in the U.S. and Canada, Zuri sought a solution that could offer immediate results in improved conversions and revenue.

Whole Foods Market said total sales for the first quarter ended Jan. 19 climbed 10% to a record $4.2 billion. But those results reportedly missed analysts’ expectations, and the company has lowered its earnings outlook for 2014 as a result.

Momentum at Whole Foods — as well as shares — slipped. Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 5.4%, compared to a 7.2% increase in the prior year.

Canton, Mass. — Dunkin’ Donuts is launching a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign that includes the Zoosk dating site as well as Twitter. On Feb. 13 and 14, people who register at Zoosk will have the chance to win a $5 Dunkin’ Donuts mGift.

Consumers leveled off post-holiday shopping and spending in the beginning of the year due in part to severe winter weather in much of the country. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), January 2014 retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, were flat seasonally adjusted month-to-month, yet increased 3% unadjusted year-over-year.

Oak Brook, Ill. — Retail Properties of America has appointed Matthew Beverly VP, director of investments — east region. In his new post, Beverly will lead investment activity through the evaluation and execution of acquisition and dispositions for all markets east of the Mississippi River.

Newgistics, a leading provider of end-to-end e-commerce solutions for top retailers and brands, has entered into a partnership with ShipStation, a leading Web-based shipping solution for online merchants.

Newgistics seeks to leverage the partnership to streamline shipping operations and bolster its ongoing strategy to drive rapid and sustainable growth for its customers using expert logistics solutions.  

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  — Catalogs.com has launched Dynalog, a new dynamic digital catalog solution that enables retailers to create interactive e-catalogs that are optimized for Web and mobile devices. The solution does not use PDFs or shrink down existing catalogs into digital format, but allows retailers to develop, customize and launch customized digital catalogs within 30 minutes.