Supply Chain & Merchandising

Gary Maxwell has joined the Supply Chain Management Research Center as an executive in residence.

Maxwell retired from Walmart last year after serving as SVP of the global business process team. He held a variety of senior supply chain and logistics roles at Walmart after joining the company in 1999 from the now defunct regional discount chain Caldor. Since his retirement, Maxwell launched Maxwell Value Chain, to provide replenishment and supply chain services to retail suppliers.

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters, Inc. has selected TXT Integrated Retail Planning from TXT Maple Lake to support end-to-end retail planning across regions, brands and channels, from strategy through to assortment execution. The solution will help Urban Outfitters, Inc. manage the whole spectrum of its retail planning processes: strategic, merchandise planning, store grading, open to buy (OTB) and assortment planning, both pre-season and in-season.

San Francisco -- The trend of companies adopting recurring revenue surged in 2013, with brand names using new billing and pricing models to grow sales and deepen customer loyalty. Recurring revenue technology provider Aria Systems projects this surge will continue in 2014 as more companies adopt recurring revenue models because of their flexibility and convenience for customers.

Houston -- Susser Holdings Corporation and Susser Petroleum Partners LP have closed their previously announced acquisition of the convenience store assets and fuel distribution contracts of Sac-n-Pac Stores, Inc. and 3W Warren Fuels, Ltd.

Solid volume growth and new product sales in North America helped The Hershey Company regain its category leadership position in the candy, mint and gum business with a 30.1% market share.

The company synonymous with chocolate said its fourth quarter sales increased 11.7% to nearly $2 billion and that sales in North America slightly exceeded expectations due to a solid holiday season.

Cary, N.C. – The Pantry, Inc. reported a net loss of $5.1 million in its first quarter of fiscal 2014, up from a net loss of $3.1 million the first quarter of the prior fiscal year. Revenues fell 5% to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion, although same-store sales rose 3.5%.

Philadelphia – Destination Maternity reported improved net income but lower net sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 as compared to the same period a year earlier. Net income totaled $4.25 million, up 11% from $3.84 million the same period a year earlier.

Tractor Supply Co., the nation’s largest farm-and-ranch retailer, reported big gains in sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and full year.

The company reported nets sales of $1.42 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 billion in the same quarter last year. Comparable-store sales increased 3.5%.

Net income for the quarter was $95.9 million, up from $79.5 million in the same quarter last year.