Retail

Chicago -- Shoppers seek out time-saving tools where both technology and innovation are embraced to better serve the consumer. According to the 16th annual Mystery Shopping Study from The E-tailing Group, efficiency most often accompanies search where retailers almost universally (89%) have in place navigational dropdowns for a quick read of the assortment, while 90% of those retailers embellish these locations with favorite products or pre-defined offers.

Tractor Supply Co., the nation’s largest farm-and-ranch retailer, reported big gains in sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and full year.

The company reported nets sales of $1.42 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 billion in the same quarter last year. Comparable-store sales increased 3.5%.

Net income for the quarter was $95.9 million, up from $79.5 million in the same quarter last year.

Littleton, Mass. -- Preliminary unaudited revenues for Dover Saddlery during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 exceeded revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012 by 13.8%, increasing to approximately $30.3 million. Revenues from the retail channel increased 22.6% to approximately $13.1 million and revenues from the direct channel increased 7.8% to approximately $17.2 million.

Framingham, Mass. - Joe Doody, president North American commercial, has been named vice chairman of Staples, Inc., and Shira Goodman, executive VP, global growth, has been named president, North American commercial of Staples, Inc. Both Doody and Goodman will continue to report to Ron Sargent, chairman and CEO. The appointments are effective February 2.

Two of Staples' senior most executives were given new responsibilities to bolster the company’s re-invention efforts and competitive posture in a market that has become more challenging with the addition of a newly merged Office Depot and OfficeMax.

Sacramento, Calif. – Wal-Mart supercenters in California benefit communities by supporting additional job creation, small business growth and more robust sales tax revenues. According to a new economic impact report conducted by economist Lon Hatamiya of the Hatamiya Group, on average, California communities with Wal-Mart supercenters fared far better on taxable retail sales than those communities without Wal-Mart supercenters.
 

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters, Inc. has selected TXT Integrated Retail Planning from TXT Maple Lake to support end-to-end retail planning across regions, brands and channels, from strategy through to assortment execution. The solution will help Urban Outfitters, Inc. manage the whole spectrum of its retail planning processes: strategic, merchandise planning, store grading, open to buy (OTB) and assortment planning, both pre-season and in-season.

Overstock said that it’s still adjusting to changes Google made to its search engine algorithms, which reduced the online retailer’s ranking in some search results during some periods. As a result, the company has had to emphasize other marketing channels, such as sponsored search.

Although sponsored search has generated revenue growth for the company, Overstock said that the move also incurs higher associated marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue than it had to pay prior to Google making its changes.