eCommerce

Cincinnati -- Bad weather, decreased spending by international tourists  due to the strong U.S. dollar and delayed merchandise shipments from the West Coast port slowdown all contributed to Macy’s missing Wall Street projections for profit and revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income fell 13% to $193 million, from $224 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Net sales dropped about 1% to $6.23 million, from $6.28 million. Same-store sales declined 0.7%.

San Francisco – Gap Inc. reported disappointing sales for April and the first quarter, hurt by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange and sliding sales at its namesake and Banana Republic divisions. Also, earlier timing of the Easter holiday, as compared to 2014, benefited the company’s March sales results and negatively impacted its April sales results.

Total same-store sales fell 12% in April, worse than predicted. Sales at Old Navy declined 6%, while sales at Banana Republic plunged 15%. Same-store sales for Gap fell 15%.

Toronto -- Canadians are not flocking over the border as much as last year, according to a recent cross-border shopping survey by marketing research firm GfK. Deterred by higher US exchange rates, Canadians are less willing to make the drive, despite the wider product selections available stateside.

Brussels, Belgium – Belgian grocery retailer Delhaize Group and Dutch grocery retailer Ahold N.V. have confirmed they are engaged in preliminary discussions about a possible merger that could create one of the largest supermarket operators in the U.S. But the two companies said the talks may not result in any deal.

By Kris Bjorson, JLL

Cost versus customer experience: As retailers compete on customer experience throughout the omni-channel supply chain process, the type of real estate and where it is located is playing a major role. In fact, according to JLL research, seven out of 10 retailers are still shaping their omnichannel product offering and customer service commitments.

Los Angeles – Commercial builder Bernards is constructing two mixed-use, multifamily projects in Southern California that will include a strong retail presence. Bernard’s is nearing the end of the construction phase for the new, 303-unit Camden Glendale (formerly Glendale Triangle), a seven-story project designed to appeal to “Gen-X” professionals.

New York – Subscription retailers outpace e-commerce retailers and flash sale businesses by a long shot when it comes to a customer’s average numbers of orders in the span of a year. According to analysis of more than 10 million orders from 2.5 million unique customers by Retention Science, subscription retailers average 7.68 orders per customer in 12 months.

In contrast, e-commerce retailers only average 2.36 orders per customer in 12 months, and flash sale retailers only average 1.41 orders in that time span.

Seattle – Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. has disclosed it holds a 9.3% stake in online retailer Zulily. Alibaba has purchased about 4.8 million class A shares for $56 million. This represents about 17% of Zulily’s Class A stock.