Supply Chain & Merchandising

Off-price retailer Gordmans Stores Inc. on Friday reported a decline in same store sales for the 10th straight quarter.

Gordmans said fourth-quarter net income was $2.3 million, or 12 cents a share, down from $2.7 million, or 14 cents as share, a year earlier. Sales at stores open at least one year fell 2.7%. Net sales rose 2% to $204 million.

Mexico City - Mexican brand manufacturer and retailer Ferrioni is updating several legacy systems and processes by implementing the complete Jesta I.S. Vision Suite. Ferrioni will not only replace its manual supply chain processes to fully automated ones, but it will also replace legacy POS and merchandising systems.

Cost-cutting efforts ongoing at Toys “R” Us Inc. helped the retailer report a profit in the fourth quarter.

Overall, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, Toys “R” Us reported a profit of $265 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $210 million.

New York – New York & Company Inc. reported a net loss of $6.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to net income of $6.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. A variety of costs, including increased selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as well as expenses related to relocation of corporate headquarters and severance, contributed to New York & Company’s negative profit results.

Deep holiday discounts and the West Coast port dispute hurt profits at New York & Company Inc. during the fourth quarter.

Chain Store Age hosted its 51st annual SPECS 2015 conference on March 15-17, in Las Vegas. Here are three takeways from the conference concerning technological innovation in the store planning area:

1. Overflowing Shelves are the Enemy
For most brick-and-mortar retailers, having shelves chock full of merchandise with every possible variation (such as size and color) is the definition of successful merchandising. But in actuality, overflowing shelves leave store associates too busy to assist customers, who are left overwhelmed.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. remains highly bullish on expansion. In remarks at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, the coffee giant revealed that over the next five years it plans to open 3,500 locations in its Americas region and 8,000 new stores in foreign markets. And just in case you were wondering … Starbucks noted that Shanghai has more Starbucks stores than any other city in the world in which it operates.

A few months ago it seemed as though drone delivery was not going to happen for Amazon.com. Now the retailer's dreams of Amazon packages flying through the sky are a lot closer to reality, thanks to the FAA. 

Amazon.com has received preliminary approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to research, develop and test drone delivery -- but that doesn't mean customers can expect their orders to arrive by drone anytime soon.