Supply Chain & Merchandising

It appears that Aeropostale Inc., which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, will be selling its assets rather than reorganizing.       The teen retailer said in court papers that “reorganization on a standalone basis is not feasible.” Instead, it will look for a “stalking horse” to make the lead bid at an auction next month, Bloomberg reported.   

Ace Hardware Corp. is helping independent members of its retail cooperative manage increasingly complex labor regulations.   The hardware chain is leveraging the cloud-based Kronos Workforce Central suite of workforce management solutions. In addition to better management of rising labor law compliance requirements, Ace expects the deployment to also enable improvement of store productivity and increase of associate engagement.  

Walmart Canada has begun following through with a June announcement it would gradually stop accepting Visa payments.   On June 11, the retailer issued a release stating it would stop accepting Visa payments across Canada, starting July 18 at stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Multiple media reports indicate that as of July 18, Walmart Canada is no longer taking payments via Visa-branded cards at three stores in Thunder Bay.  

By Dan Berthiaume Walmart Canada has begun following through with a June announcement it would gradually stop accepting Visa payments. On June 11, the retailer issued a release stating it would stop accepting Visa payments across Canada, starting July 18 at stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Multiple media reports indicate that as of July 18, Walmart Canada is no longer taking payments via Visa-branded cards at three stores in Thunder Bay.

Matt Powers, who formerly held a high-level real estate executive role at Walmart, is shifting professional gears.   Powers has joined real estate services firm JLL Inc. as an executive VP who will serve on the company’s Retail e-commerce Distribution (ReD) platform. He will help advise retailers on their distribution real estate strategies and implement solutions that help clients achieve their supply chain, e-commerce and omni-channel operational goals.  

Retailers are focused on getting leaner.   That’s according to a new study by Accenture, in which 88% of retailers said they were focused on cost reduction to free up funds necessary to reinvest in growth initiatives.  As for where they are those cost savings, the top three areas were expanding into new geographies (cited by 60%), digital technologies (54%) and enhancing customer experiences (52%).  

Burlington Stores Inc. is upping its guidance for several key fiscal metrics in the second quarter of fiscal 2016.   The retailer now expects second quarter adjusted net income per share to total $0.28 to $.30, up from a previously announced range of $0.20-$0.23 per share and compared to $0.19 in the same period the previous year. Burlington Stores also currently anticipates adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the range of $88 to $90 million, compared to the prior year figure of $75.4 million.

Just a few short years ago, many people predicted that physical stores would all be replaced by pure-play e-commerce sites.  By now, they thought, brick-and-mortar would be a thing of the past. Though we’ve seen some physical stores close, we’ve also seen some traditionally online retailers open storefronts. The demise of the physical store was greatly overestimated.