Apparel

Increased traffic and better than expected same store sales growth at U.S. stores were bright spots in the retailer’s fourth quarter earnings CEO Doug McMillon characterized as good despite a one cent increase in earnings per share. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Increased traffic and better than expected same-store sales growth at Walmart’s U.S. stores were bright spots in the retailer’s fourth quarter earnings. But the big story in Thursday’s earnings release was the announcement that approximately 500,000 full-time and part-time associates at Walmart U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs will receive pay raises in the first half of the current fiscal year.  

Express Inc. is turning to Kate Upton again as an integral part of the company’s turnaround strategy.

The retailer, which has seen stunted growth in recent years, hired the trendy supermodel last fall, the company's first time featuring a celebrity in an ad campaign in over a decade. Now Upton is back for spring promotions.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Customer satisfaction with retail is down for the first time in four years. According to a report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), all brick-and-mortar retail categories show weakening or flat customer satisfaction for the fourth quarter of 2014.  Internet retail satisfaction, however, is up from the same quarter in 2013.

Target Corp. is reportedly localizing the assortments at its smaller-footprint Target Express stores to a high degree.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reported that since opening its first Target Express in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minnesota in summer 2014, the discounter has carefully considered local customer demographics when stocking shelves.

Alba, Italy - The Miroglio Group, an Italy-based international fashion retailer, has selected Zebra Technologies' wireless LAN solution to optimize information processes and transform them into a single omnichannel workflow. This selection was done as part of an overhaul plan that involved all the Italian companies in the Group: four buildings at its headquarters in Alba, its Milan offices and the entire store channel.

Luxury online retailer Gilt Groupe has been preparing for an IPO for a year now, but didn’t have enough cash. Now the retailer says it has raised another $50 million from venture backers.

Founded in 2007, Gilt is a New York-based e-commerce retailer that holds flash sales of discounted luxury items from clothing to home décor. The $50 million infusion brings Gilt’s total amount raised to about $250 million.

New York -- The consumer electronics and furniture sectors of the retail industry can look forward to growth in 2015, while the apparel sector faces a more mixed outlook. That was the message sounded by CIT Commercial Services executives during a roundtable discussion, "Everyone Looks Good in the Black: Retailers in the Economic Rebound,” part of the CIT Executive Insights series.

During the discussion, each CIT executive offered their views on the top trends they see ahead in various sectors of the retail market: