Sales & Marketing

Waban, Mass. -- Survey results released Wednesday by Temkin Group revealed that Publix and Trader Joe’s ranked the highest among 246 companies in terms of customer experience.

The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings, which polled 10,000 U.S. consumers, were dominated by grocery chains and food purveyors. After Public and Trader Joe’s was Aldi, and rounding out the top 12 were Chick-fil-A, Amazon.com, Sam's Club, H.E.B., Dunkin' Donuts, Save-a-Lot, Sonic Drive-In, Little Caeser's and Ace Hardware.

Plano, Texas -- There were no signs of relief for J.C. Penney Co. in the fourth quarter as the company reported a wider-than-expected net loss of $552 million, compared with a loss of $87 million in the year-ago period. The chain did not issue guidance, but did announce would open nearly 20 home-centered shops with different brand partners in 550 stores the spring.

Fouth quarter same store sales fell by a jaw-dropping 31.7% at J.C. Penney, but CEO Ron Johnson insisted the company continues to make great strides with its one year old transformation strategy.

The company report an adjusted net loss for the quarter of $427 million, or $1.95 a share and a full year adjusted net loss of $766 million or $3.49 a share.

Columbus, Ohio -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Limited Brands’ Victoria’s Secret banner would open its first stores in Hong Kong this year.

On the boards are two 1,500-sq.-ft. Victoria’s Secret shops at the International Finance Centre in the Central business district and at New Town Plaza. Bloomberg cited an emailed statement by Limited spokesperson Robin Hoffman.

BOSTON — Merchant Warehouse, a leading innovator of payment technologies and merchant account services, has named Greg Cohen chief revenue and strategy officer. With extensive experience in implementing business strategies, as well as channel and value chain expansion across the payments industry, Cohen will be responsible for expanding partnership, payment and commerce opportunities within the Genius™ Customer Engagement Platform and accountability to ensuring the strength and growth of the company’s existing business.

Chesapeake, Va. -- Dollar Tree Inc. reported Wednesday a bigger-than-expected profit of $228.6 million for the quarter ended on Feb. 2, up from $187.9 million in the year-ago period.

Sales climbed 15.4% to $2.25 billion, boosted by an extra week in the quarter. Wall Street expected $2.23 billion in sales. Same-store sales increased 2.4%.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The TJX companies reported that sales for the 14-week fourth quarter ended Feb. 2 were $7.7 billion, a 15% increase over the prior year. Consolidated comparable-store sales for the quarter on a 13-week basis increased 4% over the prior year’s 7% increase.

Net income for the 14-week fourth quarter was $605 million and diluted earnings per share were 82 cents, a 32% increase over last year’s 62 cents.

By Oren Betzaleli, EVP, head of product and marketing, Retalix

As smartphones and tablets continue to infiltrate the market, they are increasingly changing the way people interact with each other, receive information, and expect to be served by retailers and service providers. As a result, more and more retailers are starting to offer self-service mobile applications as a popular means to manage customer interaction and relationships.

Retailer-Owned vs. Consumer-Owned Self-Service