Supply Chain & Merchandising

New York -- Coach Inc.'s net income dropped to $297.4 million in the second quarter, from $352.8 million a year earlier sales in North America fell sharply during the key holiday season.

Overall revenue for the three months ended Dec. 28 fell 5.6% to $1.42 billion, with a 13.6% decrease in comparable-store sales in North America.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Co. released its 2013 Sustainability Report, outlining sustainability initiatives pursued during fiscal year 2012 ended Feb. 2013. Highlights of the report included:

• Stores and Operations: Through the company’s energy conservation efforts, J.C. Penney has received Energy Star certification in more than 500 locations and earned the Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award for five consecutive years.

Seattle — Nordstrom has broken ground on a fulfillment center at Conewago Industrial Park in Elizabethtown, Pa. It will be the company’s third fulfillment center. The 672,000-sq.-ft. building, with a 470,000-sq.-ft. mezzanine, is scheduled to open in summer 2015.

In its first three years, the new center will create nearly 400 full-time positions and additional opportunities for part-time and seasonal jobs. Looking ahead, Nordstrom expects to increase staffing to 700 full-time positions or more.

New York -- Convenience-store operator Wawa will license Applied Predictive Technologies’ (APT) merchandise optimization software, adding to Wawa’s current long term licenses for APT’s Test & Learn management system and Market Basket Analyzer. Wawa will leverage the merchandise optimization solution to maximize profitability of space and merchandise assortment plans, assess the impact of each merchandising change, and fine-tune merchandising strategy across more than 600 locations.

St. Louis -- Brown Shoe Company has selected Agilence Retail 20/20 as its exception reporting solution. The next-generation exception reporting solution will provide Brown Shoe Company with a platform for reporting on point-of-sale transactions, e-commerce, inventory adjustments, financials, and customer loyalty.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears plans to close a store in the Loop section of downtown Chicago in April 2014. Sears spokesperson Howard Riefs announced the closing in an email which said the store’s 160 employees, most of whom are part-time, will be eligible to apply for jobs at other Sears stores in the area and also to receive severance.

New York -- Target Corp. is cutting 475 positions globally, and also will not fill 700 positions that are open worldwide.

“We believe these decisions, while difficult, are the right actions as we continue to focus on transforming our business,” Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement, as reported by Reuters. “We will continue to invest in key business areas to strengthen our ability to compete and thrive well into the future.”

No specific details were given on the job cuts. 

Seattle – Nordstrom plans to open its third fulfillment center at Conewago Industrial Park in Elizabethtown, Pa. Work has begun on the approximately 672,000-sq.-ft. building, with an additional 470,000-square foot mezzanine, which is scheduled to open in summer 2015, and the company is taking bids.