Retail

By Rodney Mason, CMO, Parago

When the 2013 holiday shopping season ended, it resulted in sluggish results for U.S. retailers.  Price-match policies worked to fend off some showrooming, but these discounts also ate up margins at a very unhealthy rate.

A recent national shopper behavior study by Parago found that:

• The majority of smartphone owners showroom and regularly make purchases on their phones while in-store;

Ross Stores has promoted Michael Hartshorn to CFO, retaining his SVP title, effective Feb. 2. Hartshorn will be responsible for the accounting, treasury, financial planning, tax, risk management and investor relations functions.  

As CFO, he will continue to report to John Call, group SVP, finance and legal, and corporate secretary.

Hackensack, N.J. — Alfred Sanzari Enterprises has appointed The Greco Realty Group exclusive leasing agent for Summit Plaza in Hackensack, N.J.

A recently expanded 62,000-sq.-ft. Super Stop & Shop anchors the 100,000-sq.-ft. Summit Plaza. Service and retail tenants include Harmon Cosmetics, GNC, Payless ShoeSource, RadioShack, Dress Barn, the UPS Store, GameStop and Blimpie plus the typical neighborhood services such as a nail salon, dry cleaner and a pizzeria.

Bentonville, Ark. – Major U.S. retailers including Wal-Mart Stores and Kroger reportedly already have hardware to read PIN-and-chip payment cards, which are more resilient against data breaches than the magnetic stripe payment cards commonly used by American consumers. However, according to the Dallas Morning News, the hardware is largely unusable because customers do not have PIN-and-chip cards.

The nation’s leading apple juice brand has launched a new line of juice drinks that offer an appealing combination of kid-friendly bold flavors and mom-satisfying reduced sugar content.

Mott’s, a division of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said it launched Fruit Punch Rush, Wild Grape Surge and Strawberry Boom with 40% less sugar than found in fruit juice, no artificial sweeteners and 100% of daily vitamin C requirement.

Miami -- Publix Super Markets will open a 49,000-sq.-ft. supermarket and pharmacy to anchor Terra Group’s latest retail center development, Doral Commons in Doral, Fla. The 140,000-sq.-ft. center is located in one of the fastest growing residential areas of Miami Dade County.

Courtelis Company represented Terra Group in the lease negotiation with Publix and will continue to represent the company in the leasing of the remaining available space in Doral Commons.

Goleta, Calif. – Deckers Outdoor Corporation has created three new senior management positions Dave Powers, currently president, global direct-to-consumer (DTC), has been promoted to president of omni-channel, reporting to the CEO.
In addition to continuing to oversee Deckers' domestic DTC operations, he will also oversee all wholesale, distributor, retail and e-commerce channels in Deckers' international regions. Deckers also promoted Constance X. Rishwain, president, UGG Australia to the additional role of group president fashion & lifestyle brands

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Accellos, Inc. has released multiple updates to Mile.com, a website dedicated the transportation industry and Prophesy Transportation Solutions. The new website features enhanced content including industry white papers, case studies and videos.

In addition, the new site includes the free commercial mileage tool, Prophesy webMiler.