Supply Chain & Merchandising

The Wet Seal has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in a little over two years.   The move comes after the struggling teen apparel retailer said it planned to close all its stores after it was unable to find a buyer or fresh capital.  The company’s website is still selling merchandise, with all goods discounted.     

Dillard’s has signed an agreement to move into a shuttered Macy’s store at the Layton Hills Mall in Layton, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. Construction on the 160,000-sq.-ft. site is set to begin in April, looking toward a fall 2017 opening.  

PriceSmart is ready to break ground on its newest locations.    The warehouse club retailer has acquired approximately 242,000 sq. ft. of land in Santa Ana, Costa Rica — the home of its newest warehouse club set to open in the fall. This will be the chain’s seventh club operating in Costa Rica.  

It doesn’t pay to clash with Ralph Lauren, one of the most iconic names in fashion retailing.      Ralph Lauren Corp. and president and CEO Stefan Larsson have “mutually agreed to part ways,” with Larsson staying on until May 1, 2017, the company said in a statement. Larsson’s departure follows disagreements with Lauren, 77, the company’s founder, executive chairman and chief creative officer. Jane Nielsen, CFO, will head up the business while it hunts for a new CEO.  

PetSmart has a new strategy to keep its 55,000 employees informed and abreast of key insights.   When the 1,500-store retailer wanted to improving data accessibility across its enterprise, it turned to mobility. The chain began its mobility effort by developing one mobile app in 2010. By leveraging the MicroStrategy 10 mobility platform from long-time partner MicroStrategy, the company now has nearly 20 internal apps that deliver key insights to senior leaders and associates across the enterprise, the company said.   

On the heels of a less than stellar holiday, Target Corp. is scaling back on some parts of its innovation agenda in order to concentrate on its core business.    The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Target has scrapped its highly secretive e-commerce startup called Goldfish, and also has shelved a prototype for a store of the future, complete with robots, that was due to be built soon.

Amazon had a very good holiday, but wasn’t quite as stellar as the Street predicted.   The retail giant’s net sales increased 22% to $43.74 billion in the fourth quarter, lower than analysts had expected. The company’s outlook for the fourth quarter also fell short of expectations.   Net income, however, surpassed analysts’ estimates, and jumped to $749 million, compared to $482 million in fourth quarter 2015.  

Neil Saunders, managing director of retail research and consulting firm GlobalData Retail (formerly known as Conlumino) analyzes Ralph Lauren Corp.’s third quarter results and the news that CEO Stefan Larsson is leaving the company after a little over a year on the job. His comments are as follows: