Supply Chain & Merchandising

Miami -- Shoppers at The Falls, in Miami, will be able to pick up personal care and over-the-counter items without ever entering a store.

When online shopping club Jet.com launched in July, the retailer’s CEO said he aspired to have 15 million customers spending $20 billion by 2020.

From the looks of the website, the prices and the shopping experience, Jet.com has a lot of work to do in order to get anywhere close to achieving that goal.

Retailers invest in a variety of systems to track a wide range of supply chain and sourcing activities, but often overlook the need for technology to track ethical sourcing. Ethical sourcing refers to ensuring that products retailers sell do not involve exploitation or mistreatment of workers, unsafe facilities or production processes, stolen or counterfeit goods, or environmental hazards.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly doing some experimental tinkering with the two-day shipping guarantee for its paid Prime loyalty program.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is testing a program called “Ship by Region” that exempts some Prime items from free two-day shipping, depending on where they are shipped from.

Irvine, Calif. – Boot Barn Holdings Inc. is kicking off a set of store openings in Texas with four new stores Aug. 28-30. Three of the new stores will be in the Houston market and one will be in Euless, outside of Fort Worth.

Bolingbrook, Ill. -- Fast-growing Ulta Beauty shows no signs of losing its momentum as the specialty retailer reported better than-expected results for the second quarter and raised its guidance.

On its quarterly earnings call, Ulta said it will launch a national television advertising campaign.

Ulta’s net profits increased 8.5% to $74.2 million, from $60.8 million in the year-ago period, helped by an improved online assortment and less overall discounting.

Specialty men’s retailer Destination XL Inc. reported Thursday that it shrank its net loss in the second quarter.

Irving, Texas – Better timing of distribution expenses, the elimination of operating costs of 40 shuttered stores and an improved merchandising strategy helped drive sales growth at Michaels in the second quarter.

The retailer posted net income of $35.7 million in the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $48.6 million in the same period a year earlier.