Sales & Marketing

Philadelphia –- Urban Outfitters missed Wall Street expectations for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 with a larger-than-predicted 33% decline in net income to $47.14 million from $70.26 million in the same period a year earlier. In addition, same-store sales fell 1% compared to expectations of flat results.  

Bellevue, Wash. –- Two in three (66%) consumers purchasing holiday gifts exceeds their budget, typically by $116. According to a new survey of U.S. consumers from Coinstar, this figure rises to 78% of holiday shoppers with children.   Seventy-four percent of holiday shoppers will cut back on indulgences to help afford seasonal gifts. Popular areas to reduce spending among these shoppers include eating out (53%) and entertainment (52%).  

A Toys“R”Us executive will take over the top post at Brookstone, the product development company and specialty retailer that emerged from bankruptcy this year after being bought by a group of Chinese investors.

“We were impressed by Tom's success at rejuvenating businesses and by his broad and deep achievements as a senior executive in the retail industry,” Piau Phang Foo, chairman of the board of directors, said. “He has demonstrated success at driving innovation and growth globally."

Los Gatos, Calif. -- Forty percent of holiday shoppers use mobile shopping apps. According to a new poll of 1,000 U.S. consumers from Wanderful Media, parent company of local sales site Findnsave.com, 51% of shoppers are very interested in receiving mobile notifications regarding holiday deals and sales, and 20% of them have already signed up to receive mobile sale alerts.  

Bentonville, Ark. –- Sam’s Club will launch its Black Friday sale online on Thursday, Nov. 27 just after midnight EST with free standard shipping on Black Friday items. Members can continue shopping in clubs starting at 7 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28.

Shoes of Prey is partnering with Nordstrom to house their design-your-own-shoes studio concept in six major locations across the country. The first Shoes of Prey Design Studio at Nordstrom will open today in Bellevue, Wash. Other studios will open in 2015.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. has gone live with several new in-store navigation features. The features include new interactive maps along with enhanced shopping lists and search capabilities.   Leveraging Point Inside technology, Target customers can use the app to more easily build shopping lists, find product locations and determine item availability at local stores. New features include:  

Unless you are a grandstanding politician, the notion of American apparel production may feel like it was declared dead years ago. Our share of domestically manufactured apparel has dropped from 50% in 1994 to 2.5% in 2012, and this trend shows little sign of reversing on a macro level.