Sales & Marketing

American Eagle has had a rough winter. Robert Hanson resigned as the company’s CEO following disappointing holiday sales, and severe winter weather contributed to weak fourth-quarter results.

Interim CEO Jay Schottenstein looked on the bright side as shares dropped nearly 7%, saying that the company was taking steps to bring greater focus and excitement to its product offering and better engage its core customers.

New York -- J. Crew Group Inc. reported a 42% decrease in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit amid higher costs. Net income fell to $5.92 million in the quarter, which ended Feb. 1., down from $10.2 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased 6.7% to $686.2 million. Retail store sales rose 5% to $438.6 million and direct sales jumped 10% to $238.1 million

Same-store sales, which includes direct sales, rose 3%. Excluding a calendar shift, comparable-store sales increased 4%.

Kayser-Roth Corporation received three awards from Walmart: Supplier of the Year for overall outstanding performance and partnership in 2013, Overall Apparel Supplier of the Year and the Made in the USA Supplier of the Year Award, Apparel, for its No nonsense brand.

The awards were presented at Walmart's annual Vendor Summit in Orlando, Fla.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack has opened its latest Manhattan concept store. The newly remodeled store is one of more than a dozen concept stores to open in Manhattan since RadioShack debuted the company's first concept store in July 2013.

New York — Specialty apparel retailer Express has opened a three-level 28,000-sq.-ft. store in the I. Miller building New York City’s Times Square.

“It’s Express on steroids,” said Michael Weiss, the chairman and chief executive officer of Express. “This is an elevated presentation where the homes for each category are much more defined.”

Major changes in retailers’ use of digital coupons and free standing insert promotions were evident in 2013 and especially pronounced at Walmart, Target and Kroger, according to an extensive analysis conducted by the Marx division of Kantar Media.

Retailers’ overall advertising expenditures were relatively in 2013 when compared to the prior year; however, there were large spikes in digital coupon events and free standing insert (FSI) coupon promotion pages.
 

Oracle Industry Connect starts today, and promises to bring retailers two full days of their peers providing in-depth insight into the latest trends and pain points facing retail technology professionals. The event, being held at the Marriott Copley Place, Boston, Mass., offers a stellar lineup of speakers, including Jeff Hamm, director of e-commerce at Ulta Beauty, who will speak about improving customer experience at home and on the go with Oracle Commerce. Paul McFarren, CIO of C Wonder, will discuss supporting global growth with a unique deployment of Oracle Retail Merchandising.

Americans’ may desire healthy, organic and locally grown foods, but their enduring love of candy propelled the confectionary industry to record setting sales in 2013 and more of the same is forecast for this year.