Supply Chain & Merchandising

After reporting standout results for the holiday quarter, Costco had a drop in same store sales in March that the retailer blamed on the earlier-than-normal Easter holiday.

Union, N.J. – Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. missed Wall Street expectations with its fourth quarter 2014 profit and sales results. In addition, the company indicated that it may join Walmart and other retailers in raising wages for employees.

During the fourth quarter, Bed, Bath & Beyond reported net earnings of $321.1 million, down 4% from $333.3 million a year earlier. Higher cost of sales and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses helped drive down earnings.

Managing one partner can make retail design and construction that much easier.  Meet John Noonan with Icon, as he discusses how Icon’s three service offerings -- signage and graphics, self-perform sign & lighting maintenance, and remodel/refresh construction services– can add ease, speed and profitability to a retail rollout, even in an open-store environment.

In announcing its Costco-like membership model, Jet.com (yet to launch as of this writing) has positioned itself as the latest type of online retail marketplace. Considering that online marketplaces really go back to the days of CompuServe, Prodigy and Earthlink (extra points if you know what “dial up” means), I’ve been struck by how much marketplaces have been in the news lately. Think about Alibaba’s jaw-dropping $9.3 billion sales on Singles Day (Nov.

Washington, D.C. -- Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to rise 8% this month over the same time last year as West Coast ports continue to recover from a backlog of cargo that built up before a tentative new labor agreement was signed, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.



Atlanta – Spring has been a time for fixing up homes and lawns since anyone can remember, but The Home Depot Inc. is giving a modern twist to the process. The Home Depot is offering a variety of omnichannel shopping features, including an “expanded aisles” feature that bridges in-store products to items available on Homedepot.com.

Retailers and consumer goods companies already know that California leads the nation when it comes to burdensome regulatory requirements. Now, the situation could go from bad to worse with enforcement looming of a complex law known as the Transparency in Supply Chains Act.