Supply Chain & Merchandising

San Luis Obispo, Calif. — Shopatron, a provider of cloud-based distributed order management solutions, is releasing a free inventory visibility API. Shopatron Retailer Inventory Lookup is a cloud-based solution that offers enterprise-wide inventory visibility and also provides retailers with actionable analytics to improve in-store operations, stocking, merchandising and product marketing.

The solution enables retailers to instantly connect customers with local, available inventory.

Bentonville, Ark. — In the wake of an accident involving a truck driver for Wal-Mart Stores on the New Jersey Turnpike on Saturday, June 7 that left comedian Tracy Morgan critically injured and killed one of Morgan’s associates, comedian James McNair, Wal-Mart Stores has released a fact sheet about its trucking safety guidelines, as well an official statement regarding the crash.

Palo Alto, Calif. — Endicia, a provider of e-commerce shipping technologies and services, has released a solution called "Pay-on-Use Returns" exclusively for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Unlike traditional USPS labels, Endicia's Pay-on-Use Returns shipping labels are not pre-paid.

With an 8.7% same store sales increase, the addition of 21 new stores, a burgeoning digital business and surging first quarter profits, Ulta Beauty demonstrated why it is one of the retail industry’s most compelling growth stories.

Burlington, N.J. — Burlington Stores Inc. had an all-around strong first quarter of fiscal 2014 that included a better-than-expected net income of %11.77 million, up from a net loss of $5.56 million in year-ago period. The retailer expects to open 25 net new stores during the fiscal year, including the opening of one new store and closing of one existing store in the second quarter.

Houston — Mattress Firm Holding Corp. announced the promotion of Alex Weiss to executive VP and CFO of the company, effective July 30, 2014, the beginning of the retailer’s third fiscal quarter.  He succeeds Jim Black who transitions into the role of senior corporate advisor to Mattress Firm through the end of the current fiscal year.

Jos. A. Bank continued the positive trend of increases in adjusted earnings that it saw in the second half of 2013. Comparable brand sales increased by double digits in the first two months of the first quarter, and despite slowing down after Easter, still resulted in an 8.4% increase.

Los Angeles — PriceGrabber has partnered with Channel IQ, to power "Buy Online", Channel IQ's latest product that will be available to consumers early this summer. Powered by PriceGrabber's shopping content, Channel IQ's "Buy Online" solution allows manufacturers to offer consumers a way to find and purchase their desired product from authorized retailers and ecommerce sites.