Mass Merchant

Columbus, Ohio – Express Inc. topped Wall Street expectations with net income of $14.6 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, a 24% decline from $19.3 million the same quarter the previous year. Increased buying and occupancy costs contributed to the decline in profits.   Net sales decreased 1% to $497.6 million from $503.8 million. Same-store sales, including e-commerce sales, decreased 5%. E-commerce sales rose 11% to $79.1 million.  

Kmart eked out a positive third quarter same store sales increase, but parent company Sears Holdings still reported a $548 million loss while CEO Edward Lampert claimed customers are responding to transformation efforts.

Houston - JLL has appointed Naveen Jaggi as president of JLL Americas Retail Brokerage. Jaggi comes to JLL from CBRE, where he was a senior managing director of Retail Services.

In his new role at JLL, Jaggi will oversee more than 100 brokers, spanning 25 major markets, who serve the firm’s 500 retail owner and occupier clients. Jaggi is also tasked with creating deeper integration, collaboration and consistency across the Americas retail platform and globally.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. has reportedly failed in its attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by banks in federal court in Minneapolis. According to Reuters, the banks are seeking compensation in the millions of dollars for reimbursing consumers for fraudulent charges and issuing new payment cards in connection with the November 2013 security breach at Target.

Bentonville, Ark.– While some retailers worry about mobile “showrooming” damaging in-store sales, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. welcomes brick-and-mortar shoppers with mobile devices. In an interview with CNBC, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon said 10% of Wal-Mart’s mobile orders come from customers inside its stores.

Facing a holiday shopping season in which consumers will be more digitally engaged than ever, Target is partnering with Google to introduce a new mobile experience aimed at driving traffic to its stores.

Bullseye’s Playground is a mobile game experience featuring Target’s bull terrier mascot Bullseye and other characters. In select Target stores, guests will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Bullseye’s Playground using Google’s new Project Tango Development Tablet, which will transform the store into a 3D winter playground.

Minneapolis - Target Corp. continues to invest in new mobile and digital investments to drive traffic.  The retailer announced it is partnering with Google on an interactive mobile game experience that has a big in-store component.  The project is part of Google’s Art, Copy & Code program, which Google describes as partnerships that explore how creativity and technology can work hand in hand to build brands.

Boston - A new study shows just how diluted Black Friday has become to holiday shoppers: Twenty-eight percent of shoppers shopped in stores Nov. 22/Nov. 23 and 34% of shoppers chose to shop in stores the weekend after Black Friday (Nov. 29/Nov. 30), while 25% shopped on Black Friday, according to Kantar Retail.

In other results, 65%  of shoppers surveyed chose not to shop because of crowds while 42% stayed out of stores to avoid traffic.