Supply Chain & Merchandising

As the popularity of the Rainbow Loom waned this year so did sales at Michaels where third quarter comps declined 0.8% compared to the prior year.

As Dollar Tree moves forward with its acquisition of Family Dollar, the company reported an increase in same-store sales and expressed a favorable holiday outlook.

Dollar Tree's earnings per share increased 19% to $0.69 and its revenue increased 11.2% to $2.1 billion compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2013; these results were driven by comparable-store sales increasing 5.9% during the quarter compared to an increase of 3.1% in the prior-year period.

Green Bay, Wisconsin - H.J. Martin announced it has completed a major project for national retailer Burlington Coat Factory.  The project primarily consisted of fixture installations in 49 stores across the continental United States as part of a remodeling of Burlington’s home and accessories departments.  

San Jose, Calif. - Cross-border shoppers (those for whom more than 10% of their online spend is cross-border), spend approximately twice as much as consumers who only shop domestically. New research from PayPal and Ipsos, which investigated the online and cross-border shopping habits of more than 17,500 consumers in 22 countries, shows 30% of U.S. online consumers shop across borders.  

Secaucus, N.J. – The Children’s Place Inc. has named Anurup Pruthi as senior VP and CFO, effective Dec. 1, 2014. He will report to Michael Scarpa, COO.  

Goodlettsville, Tenn. – Dollar Tree Inc. beat Wall Street predictions for profits and sales in a generally strong third quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income rose 6% to $133 million from $125.4 million.   Consolidated net sales increased 11% to $2.1 billion from $1.88 billion and consolidated same-store sales increased 5.9%.

Ross Stores didn’t let a surprisingly strong third quarter comp increase go to its head and maintained a cautious view of consumer spending.

Sales at the company increased 8% to nearly $2.6 billion and same store sales increased 4%. Net income increased to $193 million, or 93 cents a share, from $172 million, or 80 cents a share.

Lost in the crush of holiday related news this week was a supply chain visibility related announcement involving Walmart and an obscure company called I.D. Systems, Inc.

Walmart uses I.D. System’s trailer and tracking management services branded as VeriWise to manage a range of logistics assets. The new development this week involved a three year contract extension whereby Walmart will continue using I.D. System’s services.