Sales & Marketing

New York -- In a new type of retail disruption, London’s must buzzed-about department store, Selfridges, plans to remove the men’s and women’s departments on the three floors of its Oxford Street flagship from mid- March to the end of April, replacing them with unisex or gender-neutral shops.  
 

Kohl’s rolled out two omnichannel campaigns in January underscoring the company’s stated focus on giving back to the community.

The company says it will award $400,000 in scholarships and prizes to more than 2,500 students who have made a positive impact on their communities. Nominations for kids ages 6 to 18 will be accepted until March 13 at kohlskids.com and in stores.

San Jose, Calif. – Homeowners stuck shoveling out more than two feet of snow were not the only ones in the Northeast negatively impacted by winter storm Juno the week of Jan. 26. Analysis from RetailNext shows that between Monday, Jan. 26 and Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015, store traffic at Northeast retailers dropped 35.6% from the same three-day period the prior year.

DSW Inc. is shifting titles and responsibilities within its executive ranks, with all changes effective Feb. 2.

Carrie McDermott, currently executive VP, sales and operations, will be appointed executive VP and COO.

In addition, Bill Jordan, currently executive VP and general counsel, will be appointed executive VP and chief administrative officer, adding IT to his portfolio of responsibilities.

Roger Rawlins, executive VP, omnichannel, will be appointed executive VP and chief innovation officer.

Like many buzzwords in the industry, from cloud to big data, the term “digital” is evolving. Coining something as “digital” has always implied that it’s better or more advanced than the status quo. Remember when we moved from vinyl to compact discs? CDs had logos on them with the words "Compact disc DIGITAL AUDIO." Digital in this sense was the byword for ease of use, reliability and interference free music.

It may be hard to believe (considering its financial troubles), but Sears was the most popular U.S. department store on Facebook during the 2014 holiday shopping season, according to a new study. 

The data also show that Walmart.com was the most popular mass merchant store site.

New York -- Solais Lighting, a division of PowerSecure Int., said that its Xi24 LED fixtures featuring the company’s VioLight color-enhancing technology were selected as the lighting product of record by watch and lifestyle company Fossil.

“We love the crisp, clear way that VioLight [fixtures] light our space, produce a sharper visual and make our product pop,” said Amanda Ceja, procurement manager, store design & development for Fossil, which operates over 260 stores throughout North America.

New York -- Amazon reported higher-than-expected profit for its fourth quarter, fueled by growth of its Prime memberships and holiday shoppers, even as its sales came in below forecasts. It’s a reverse for the e-commerce giant, which has typically sacrificed profits for rapidly-growing sales.

For the fourth quarter, net income totaled $214 million, down from $239 million in the year-ago period, but better than analysts had expected. Sales rose 15% to $29.3 billion, lower than the expected $29.7 billion.