Sales & Marketing

The parent company of such brands as Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, and Allen Edmonds topped the Street in its second quarter, fueled by a strong back-to-school selling season.    Caleres reported that its adjusted net earnings rose 4.4% to $20.6 million. Adjusted diluted earnings a share were 48 cents, which topped estimates of 44 cents.  

Kohl's is reaching out to its associates as well as the general public impacted by Hurricane Harvey.   The retailer said it will provide an estimated $1 million in financial support to its employees who have been significantly impacted by the storm. Kohl’s will continue to monitor the impact of the flooding throughout the region to evaluate the need for additional assistance.   

Based on its recent bold expansion into the grocery segment, Amazon is primed to give food and beverage e-commerce a shot of adrenaline.   This was according to “U.S. Grocery Market Focus: The Amazon Food Shopper,” a report from Packaged Goods.    According to the firm’s estimates, Amazon's 2016 online food and beverages sales, including AmazonFresh, is at $1.5 billion. This volume is expected to rise to $2.3 billion in 2017, giving the company a 19% share of the online market.

West Elm brand is expanding in the U.K.   The retailer, a division of Williams-Sonoma, will open its second U.K. location, in the London suburb of Kingston-Upon-Thames in winter 2017. The two-story, 8,000-sq.-ft. store is on the ground floor of Bentalls Shopping Centre. The new location will open with the brand's holiday assortment, along with a signature mix of furniture and accessories, and Fair Trade Certified and handcrafted products.   

In what it claims to be the biggest-dollar real estate transaction in the state of Virginia this year, Morgan Properties bought the Mark Center in Alexandria for $509 million.   The Mark Center combines 2,664 residential units with 63,320 sq. ft. of retail on 150 acres within the Capital Beltway. The site features read access to Interstates 295, 395, and 495 and is within minutes of downtown Washington, D.C.  

Walmart is expanding its online breadth in Canada.   The discount giant expanded its global online marketplace to its Canadian e-commerce store, Walmart.ca, a move that doubles the site’s online product assortment. The retailer expects this number to quadruple by the end of this year, according to Walmart.  

Brands that are not thinking about how to leverage artificial intelligence are already falling behind.   This was according to the Retail Revolution study from OMD EMEA, and Goldsmiths, University of London. It is based on 15,000 consumers across 13 European countries.  

Although up against a soft comparative from the prior year, it is fair to say that Best Buy has produced a very robust set of second quarter numbers. The 4.9% increase in domestic sales underlines that the company is more than holding its own in the electricals market and should put pay to the oft repeated fiction that retailers of its ilk will struggle to survive in the era of Amazon.