Sales & Marketing

SAN FRANCISCO — Williams-Sonoma is helping consumers create their dream kitchen with the launch of Cultivate.com. Offering information about kitchen design and remodeling in one destination, the website will feature advice from acclaimed kitchen experts, thousands of inspirational photos, recommendations for local kitchen professionals and unique planning tools, the company announced Friday.

NEW YORK — Men who want to mimic what they see on the pages of GQ will soon be able to do so simply by shopping at Gap. The retailer is partnering with the magazine to bring limited-collections from GQ's “Best New Menswear Designers in America” to select Gap stores and Gap.com. The designers will be featured in the April 2012 issue of GQ. 

The “Best New Menswear Designers in America” selected by GQ are:

Profits grew faster than sales at Walmart’s international division last year, despite investments to drive record expansion and inventory growth, as EDLP took hold in more markets.

Edens will unveil Mosaic in fall 2012. The urban grid design mixing hotel, office and retail, Mosaic is a 31-acre mixed-use development located in the heart of Merrifield, Va.

Mosaic offers a wide variety of on-site amenities including a diverse offering of restaurants unique to the community, shops and large-scale retailers, specialty services and more, all within walking distance.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma announced Friday the launch of Cultivate.com, a content site and online resource for kitchen inspiration and design.

The new website provides information about kitchen design and remodeling in one single destination, offering consumers advice from kitchen experts, inspirational photos, recommendations for local kitchen professionals, and unique planning tools.

WAYNE, N.J. — Babies“R”Us launched the Very Important Baby (V.I.B.) program, designed to allow parents an opportunity to earn a 10% bonus savings on baby essentials.

The complimentary V.I.B. card is much like a debit card and can be used toward purchases of any brand of diapers, wipes, formula and baby food at “R” Us stores nationwide. Every time money is loaded onto the card, Babies “R” Us will add 10% – up to $200 annually.

Fourth-quarter same-store sales at JCPenney declined 1.8%, and the company lost $87 million, but those details are being overlooked for the time being as execution of the transformation strategy envisioned by CEO Ron Johnson began less than a month ago.

Walmart’s U.S. stores regained customer traffic during the fourth quarter and president and CEO Mike Duke said the company had a great Christmas, but it didn’t feel that way to investors who couldn’t dump shares of the company fast enough after earnings were released on Tuesday.

Total company sales for the quarter increase by 5.8% to $122.3 billion and profits from continuing operations increased 3.4% to nearly $5.2 billion while earnings per share increased 7.5% to $1.44 from $1.34 if one time gains are excluded from both reporting periods.