Supply Chain & Merchandising

Young girls are notoriously picky about what they wear, and a new online shopping service founded by the former chairman and CEO of A Children’s Place is looking to do something about it.

Modern. Innovative. Interactive. Organized.

Those were among the words used most often by mystery shoppers to describe Amazon’s first ever retail storefront, Amazon Books. The report comes amid ongoing rumors that the Internet giant is planning to roll out additional stores.

Amazon is about to launch its biggest venture into food outside of the United States.
 
The online giant will deliver groceries to Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Pantry customers in the United Kingdom under a new wholesale supply deal it has struck with Morrisons, the U.K.’s fourth-largest supermarket chain.

Under the arrangement, Morrisons will supply fresh, frozen and non-perishable goods to Amazon customers, starting later this year.

Lumber Liquidators on Monday announced the appointment of Dennis Knowles as COO, effective March 1, 2016.

Knowles has served in store operations leadership roles at Lowe's Companies since 2001, most recently as chief store operations officer, and prior to that as senior VP of store operations support and specialty sales and its senior VP of store operations for Lowe's West and South Central Divisions, respectively.

J.C. Penney continues to be a bright spot in the retail sector with impressive increases in same-store sales and earnings, as well as a new marketing campaign that is generating a lot of buzz.

On Thursday, the retailer announced that same store sales grew 4.1 % for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30. A combination of strong sales growth, accelerated gross margins and disciplined expense reduction resulted in full year adjusted EBITDA of $715 million, a $435 million increase.

Gap Inc. says its fourth quarter results show the company's turnaround plan is working, but the retailer continues to post lackluster sales and earnings.

The parent company of Old Navy and Banana Republic says fourth-quarter profits were $214 million, or 53 cents per share, for the three-month period ended Jan. 30. That compares with $319 million or 75 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped nearly 7% in the quarter to $4.39 billion. Same-store sales declined 7%.

Perhaps no other retailer is profiting as well from Americans' changing eating habits than Sprouts Farmers Market, which reported record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter.

The Arizona-based grocer said that same store sales during the period ended Jan. 3 rose 7.4%. Net income was $28.2 million and diluted earnings per share were 18 cents. Net sales were $3.59 billion, a 21% increase compared to reported net sales in 2014. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.86, a 19% increase from 2014.