Supply Chain & Merchandising

Plano, Texas – It will not be a happy New Year for employees of some 40 J.C. Penney stores. The company on Thursday said that it plans to close approximately 40 stores, which represent less than 4% of its total store base, on or about April 4, 2015. The closures will affect about 2,250 employees.

Dollar Tree and Dollar General shareholders may be wondering why the boards of their respective companies are so intent on acquiring Family Dollar after seeing the takeover target’s first quarter results.

This is the age of the empowered consumer. Energized by the rapidly accelerating global growth of mobile devices, shoppers now have immediate access to data on products, prices and competitive services. In addition to shifting the balance of power away from retailers and manufacturers, the spread of information and the growth of technologically sophisticated pure-play retailers have contributed to rapidly rising expectations about just how personalized and participatory the shopping experience can be.

Costco showed again in December why it’s the cream of the crop among warehouse club stores.

The Wash.-based retailer reported an increase of 8% in same store sales in the United States, excluding gasoline sales and foreign exchange. Same-store sales at international stores rose by 1%.

Net sales for the retailer rose 5% to $12.12 billion in December from $11.53 billion a year earlier.

Philadelphia -- Teen value retailer Five Below has named Michael Romanko as its executive VP of merchandising, charged with overseeing merchandising strategy and operations. Romanko, who officially assumes the role on Jan. 19, will report to president Joel Anderson.

Hers may not be a household name among Walmart suppliers, but few of the retailer’s executives have as much of an impact on the daily lives of trading partners as Suja Chandrasekaran.

As Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Walmart, Chandrasekaran leads the technology and data transformation underway at Walmart that is referred to as Retail Link 2.0. The information sharing system known as Retail Link was pioneered by Walmart more than two decades ago and today is used extensively by suppliers for all manner of supply chain applications.

New York -- Teen retailers had a “less dreadful” holiday selling season than was anticipated. That’s how analysts are tempering the news that banners such as American Eagle Outfitters, Aeropostale and Urban Outfitters posted stronger-than-expected holiday results, released by most on Thursday.

In fact, say industry watchers, the strong sales figures look pretty shiny because they are exaggerated by pre-season low expectations, which were dragged down by fears of aggressive discounting and waning mall traffic.

Stage Stores is reporting a strong holiday sales season despite predictions from the company’s CEO that December would be very challenging for apparel retailers.

The parent company of Beall’s, Goody’s and other stores reported an increase in same store sales of 6.5% for the nine week period ending Jan. 3.