Supply Chain & Merchandising

Tuesday Morning Corp. has selected the chairman of its board to be the off-price retailer's next chief executive, ending a search that began in September.

Steven R. Becker becomes the Texas-based retailer's next CEO, effective immediately. Becker has led Tuesday Morning's office of the chairman since Sept. 28, when the Dallas-based retailer’s previous CEO, Michael Rouleau, announced his retirement. Previously Becker had served as the company's chairman of the board since 2012.

Despite the mixed outlook for holiday sales, the private equity community remains interested in retail, believing that the sector can offer the opportunity to achieve scalable growth.

We all know the stress of seasonal shopping can make the holidays anything but merry for consumers.

However, there are a few key customer experience features retailers can offer to help make this time of year bearable, if not downright happy, for beleaguered shoppers. The holiday customer experience should be:

App-centric

Industry estimates show in-store conversion rates (percentage of visitors who take the desired action to purchase) are below 30% and dropping. This means 70% of store visitors leave without buying. Never before has there been greater competition for sales and a smarter, more connected consumer base.

The demise of physical stores has become a familiar narrative during the holiday season, but nothing could be further from the truth according to one man better positioned than most to know.

RH's innovative growth initiatives are starting to bear fruit, as the home furnishings retailer reported record sales and profits in the third quarter.

BJ's Wholesale Club has promoted its COO to president and chief executive officer just months after recruiting him from Hess Retail Corp.

The club retailer announced that Christopher J. Baldwin, BJ's president and chief operating officer, has been named president and CEO, succeeding Laura J. Sen, who is assuming the role of non-executive chairman. The appointment is effective Feb. 1.

Weak traffic at Saks 5th Avenue stores did not keep Hudson's Bay Company from reporting higher sales and profit in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company posted a profit of $1 million, compared with a $13 million loss a year earlier. Total sales increased 34% to $2.57 billion, up from $1.91 billion. Consolidated sales growth was 34.1%, up $653 million from prior year with same-store sales growth of 12.9%. But Saks Fifth Avenue logged a same store sales decrease of 3.6%.