Supply Chain & Merchandising

New day dawning at Tuesday Morning Tuesday Morning CEO Michael Rouleau declared the company’s turnaround complete after same store sales popped 7.6% and operating profits surged 32% during the second quarter ended Dec. 31.

The operator of 800 stores reported that the same store sales increase was as a result of a 7.7% increase in customer transactions, offset by a 0.1% decrease in average ticket. Sales at the 31 stores relocated during the past 12 months increased approximately 50% and contributed 140 basis points to the comparable store sales increase of 7.6%.

Indianapolis – Hhgregg Inc. had a difficult third quarter of fiscal 2015, swinging to a loss from a profit the prior year period and missing Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue. The retailer posted a net loss of $86.9 million compared to net income of $5.05 million, which was a wider loss than projected by analysts.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The Joint Industry Coupon Committee on Thursday urged retailers to prepare for the retirement of UPC Prefix 5 barcodes from manufacturer coupons. These symbols will no longer be used after June 30, 2015, as manufacturers shift to exclusive use of the GS1 DataBar format for coupons.   

Sluggish traffic and weak performance in the consumer electronics segment led Hhgregg to post a 6.3% drop in same store sales in the third quarter.

The retailer reported a loss in profits from the prior year period and missed Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue. Hhgregg posted a net loss of $86.9 million, compared to net income of $5.05 million, which was a wider loss than projected by analysts.

A stronger than average flu season helped Rite Aid post an increase in same store sales for January.   The company reported a 4.8% increase in same-store sales for the four weeks ended Jan. 24. Rite Aid's January front-end same-store sales increased 2.9%.  

Franklin, Tenn. – About four- in-10 retailers plans on using both Apple Pay (43%) and predictive analytics (42%) by the end of 2015. According to a new study from IHL Group, “Retail 2018 – Retail Transformed,” things are looking up for both store growth and IT spend.

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry Inc. is heading into its pending merger with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. in a profitable state. During the first quarter of fiscal 2015, The Pantry reported net income of $18.9 million, compared to a net loss of $5.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Overstock.com rode the wave of e-commerce during the holidays to an 18% increase in profits.

The online retailer said fourth-quarter revenues rose 18.3% to $470.4 million as the e-commerce heavyweight increased its average order size to $159.

The retailer also said its gross margin increased by 0.2% to 18.2% due to improved warehouse efficiency, lower inbound freight costs and reduced credit card fees.