Retail

London – Leading U.K. supermarket chain Tesco plc is reportedly considering laying off as many as 10,000 employees in response to poor profit performance. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Tesco may lay off up to 6,000 employees from its head office and 43 stores the retailer already announced it will close, and eliminate the rest by streamlining operations.

Jobs eliminated by streamlining would include executive positions. In January, Tesco said it would shutter 43 stores with as many as 2,000 resulting layoffs.
 

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Data breaches are on the rise around the world. Digital security provider Gemalto released the latest edition of its Breach Level Index (BLI), revealing that more than 1,500 data breaches led to one billion data records compromised worldwide during 2014.

I recently had the chance to spend some time talking with Dan Ward, cofounder of app development firm Detroit Labs. Since 2011, Detroit Labs has developed apps in its downtown Detroit center, rapidly growing to 75 employees and serving a wide range of companies including Domino’s Pizza. Here are five tips for developing a successful retail app gleaned from my conversation with Ward:

1. Connect the brick-and-mortar and digital channels

Michaels is broadening is involvement with a global charity focused on improving the health of children and families.

Michaels and its subsidiary Aaron Brothers have supported Starlight since 2010. The expanded partnership will increase the company's involvement through a wide range of programs that include corporate contributions, in-store promotions, customer donation programs, associate-driven events and giving, vendor engagement, product donations and more.

By Frank Layo, Kurt Salmon

First the bad news: The chronic congestion tying the West Coast ports in knots is on track to cost U.S. retailers some $7 billion this year, and losses could total nearly $37 billion by the end of 2016.

And the good news? At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much to speak of.

Dallas - Between now and June 30, 7-Eleven Inc. will waive the franchise fee on a select number of its U.S. stores available for franchise, a savings of up to $80,000. The more than 200 available stores are located in cities across the country.

During the last four years 7-Eleven has grown its store base by more than 1,300 units. Now that a 7-Eleven customer base has been established at these locations, the company is looking to transition these stores to franchise operations.

Atlanta – Global fashion retailer Bonprix is bringing its marketing activities to the cloud. Bonprix, which is part of Otto Group, is rolling out applications from the Teradata Integrated Marketing Cloud.

Urban Outfitters is taking its omnichannel strategy to the next level by relocating its e-commerce fulfillment center to a new, 1 million square foot building in Pennsylvania.   The retail company plans to relocate its Trenton, S.C., e-commerce fulfillment center to a new building in Gap, Pa. Construction of the fulfillment center in Gap is on schedule to be complete by July.