Sales & Marketing

The North Face puts its passion for adventure and the great outdoors front and center in its new flagship on Regent Street in London. The two-level 4,300-sq.-ft. space is designed to inspire customers to explore the world and equip them with not only the necessary gear, but also knowledge and support.

(For more photos of The North Face, London, click here.)

Specialty apparel retailer New York & Company is targeting social media-savvy young women with a new promotional campaign that brings jeans into the digital realm.

New York & Company is promoting its new line of Soho jeans with a rich media campaign featuring American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson. Through the trends section of its main e-commerce site (avoiding any content silos), New York & Company displays images of Hudson that can bring the customer directly to a product page for purchase.

Of all the major big-box retailers, only one has a digital IQ ranking in the “genius” range.

According to the new Big Box Digital IQ Index from business intelligence firm L2 Inc., Home Depot stands along among big-box chains with a genius-level digital IQ score of 144. IQ scores measure performance in four key areas of site and e-commerce, digital marketing, social media, and mobile and tablet.

It appears that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is starting to making progress in its turnaround efforts.

Helped by a less promotional stance and cost cuts, the teen retailer saw its profit more than double in its third quarter as it beat expectations. But similar to many other retailers, Abercrombie struck a cautious note and said it expects fourth-quarter same-store sales to be about flat.

A familiar name factors heavily into the online holiday shopping plans of consumers.

According to a new poll from Reuters and Ipsos, 51% of consumers plan to do most or all of their online holiday shopping at Amazon.com. This dwarfs the next-most-popular specific retailer, Walmart, favored by 16%.

Other traditional and online retailers combined for the second-highest response of 18%. Other popular retailers with low responses include Target (3%) and Macys (2%).

Ross Stores joined rival off-price retailer TJX in avoiding the weak traffic trends that have plagued other retailers in the third quarter, as shoppers continue to be attracted to value-priced merchandise.

Ross Stores reported that earnings per share for the 13 weeks ended Oct. 31 increased 15% to 53 cents on net earnings that rose 12% to $216 million. Sales for the fiscal 2015 third quarter grew 7% to $2.783 billion, with same store sales up 3%.

Hibbett Sports says strong expense control and footwear sales helped the retailer increase earnings in the third quarter.

The Alabama-based sporting goods retailer reported that for the third quarter ended Oct. 31, profit was $18.7 million, or 79 cents a share, up from $16.9 million, or 67 cents, a year earlier. Revenue increased 4.6% to $228.3 million. Same-store sales increased .6%.

Higher demand for running and basketball shoes is translating into more record sales and profits for Foot Locker, which reported impressive third quarter results on Friday.

The New York-based specialty athletic retailer posted a same store sales increase of 8.7% in its third quarter ended Oct. 31.