Retail

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. on Friday cuts its profit forecast on the heels of disappointing fourth quarter same-store sales. The retailer also disclosed that its previously announced data breach involved many more people was much wider than it initially thought.

Last year, Cedar Realty Trust shook off the last vestiges of its recession. Upon taking the reins of Cedar, new president and CEO Bruce Schanzer set in motion a short-term strategic plan in third quarter 2011. The plan was to sell nearly half of the company’s 140 properties owned in 2011 and streamline its property-type and geographic focus, while reducing leverage over the following two years. While the results for 2013 are being tallied now, performance during the first three quarters suggest a very good year of solid results.

Teen and tween retailer Five Below blamed the weather for what it expects will be a substantial shortfall in fourth quarter same store sales.

For the nine week period ended Jan. 9, same store sales had declined 0.5% and by the end of the company’s fourth quarter same store sales may decline as much as 1.5%, according to the company. That is well below guidance of a 4% increase the company forecast when it released third quarter results.

Dallas – A majority of consumers find point-of-sale (POS) prompts, such as discount alerts on their mobile devices an invasion of their privacy. According to a recent website poll from CompuCom, respondents were asked, “Do you find point-of-sale technology prompts, such as a customized alert for discounts upon entering a store”: 63% said it is Big Brother-ish/intrusive while 37% said it is helpful and cool.

The poll collected 307 responses from IT professionals across multiple industries from Nov. 16, 2013 through Dec. 17, 2013.

Jewelry retailers had mixed sales results during the crucial holiday period.

Tiffany & Co. reported that worldwide net sales in the two months ended Dec. 31 increased 4% to $1.03 billion. Total sales in the Americas region rose 6% to $550 million.

Same-store sales rose 7% due to broad-based sales growth across most of the region. Tiffany is now offering guidance of earnings per diluted share expected to be in a range of $1.27-$1.37 for the fiscal 2013 ending January 31, 2014.

Albany, N.Y. -- Total sales for the nine-week holiday 2013 period at Trans World Entertainment Corporation were $115 million compared to $128 million for the same period last year, a decrease of 10.2%. The company operated an average of 5% fewer stores during the nine-week period as compared to last year.

Same-store sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 4, 2014 decreased 6%.

Lindt and Sprungli has introduced a bevy of new premium chocolate offerings, with flavor combinations ranging from sweet-and-salty to delicate milk chocolate. 

The new product offerings include Lindor Coconut truffles, Classic Recipe Caramel with Sea Salt bars, special additions to the Lindt Chocolate Specialties line, and the first-ever Lindt Brownie Mixes.

By Scott Jennings, director of market development, Retail & Services, QlikTech

Omni-channel is one of the most discussed (and debated) topics in the retail industry. Some proclaim that it is a total game changer, while others say it is simply the rebranding of a multi-channel strategy. I would argue the omni-channel concept is going to redefine the future of retail business intelligence.