Sales & Marketing

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop reported a loss of $9 million for the fourth quarter, down from a profit of $8.3 million in the year-ago period. Total revenue dropped 5% to $119 million. The company said its profit and revenue took a hit when two movies it important product tie-ins with underperformed.

New York City -- Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN Inc., is staying at the home shopping giant and is not interested in becoming the next CEO at Avon Products Inc., according to Women's Wear Daily.

The report cited a letter Grossman sent to top HSN executives at HSN.

Previous reports had Grossman as a top candidate to replace Avon CEO Andrea Jung, who agreed in December to resign.

New York -- Advance Auto Parts achieved record sales, profits and store expansion last year and with many of the economic factors that contributed to its 2011 success, expected to remain in place this year expectations are high that 2012 will be another one for the record books.
 

SAN FRANCISCO — Three-of-every-4 consumers using smartphones and tablets respond to a call to action after seeing a location-specific message, according to the Mobile Audience Insights Report issued by JiWire on Wednesday.

Bethlehem, Pa. -- Peeps & Co. has opened its third store, in The Shoppes at Sands, next to the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Pa. The store offers an energy-filled environment immersing visitors in sight, sound and taste.

Peeps is the retail arm of candy-maker Just Born, whose brands include Peeps and Mike and Ike.

Boston -- Research results released Thursday by mobile and social merchandising solution-provider Zmags found that less than one-third of the top 100 Internet retailers are prepared for tablet shopping.

According to “Mobile & Tablet e-Commerce: Is anyone really ready?” commissioned by research firm Hawk Partners, too few retailers have optimized sites for tablet commerce. Most are simply relying on their standard websites to provide an “adequate enough” tablet shopping experience.

Tarrytown, N.Y. -- DLC Management Corp. announced that it has named Jonathan Wigser as chief investment officer, charged with leading all of the company’s acquisition and disposition activities.

Since joining DLC in 2002, Wigser has been involved in the acquisition and disposition of more than $1.1 billion of retail real estate, in addition to raising more than $250 million of equity from institutional and high net worth investors.

With China on pace to become one of the world's biggest retail market, any insight on developing a retail business in this area is welcomed, which is why it is no surprise that Scott Price, president and CEO of Walmart Asia, is scheduled to speak at the World Retail Congress Asia Pacific in Beijing this March.