Supply Chain & Merchandising

New York -- VeriFone Systems said that Deckers Outdoor Corporation has implemented VeriFone mobile retailing hardware and software to fulfill its omni-channel initiative at 40 UGG Australia store locations. The solution enables store associates to accept payments from the sales floor and sell out of stock products available online through its integration with an e-commerce platform from Demandware.
 

New York -- Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said Tuesday that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



PetSmart is making changes to its management team and organizational structure in conjunction with the retirement of president and COO Joseph O’Leary. The changes will become effective April 4.

Assuming the role of president will be current CEO David Lenhardt.

New York -- Checkpoint Systems announced that Kohl’s Department Stores has deployed Checkpoint’s RFID solutions across select departments in its stores.

“RFID will further enhance our customers’ shopping experience by providing improved operational visibility, enabling us to more efficiently identify items which need to be replenished on the sales floor,” said Ken Bonning, senior executive VP, Kohl’s Department Stores.

Tucson, Ariz. — Big-box retail space in Tucson, Ariz., has been leasing up, with the highest demand focused in core regional mall hubs. Big-box spaces in peripheral areas of the city remain vacant.

In the Park Place Mall area, for instance, big box properties are nearly fully leased, with some saying the area is ripe for redevelopment to accommodate future demand.

Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation reported that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



GameStop reported increases in global and same-store sales for the nine-week holiday sales period ended Jan. 4, but results missed analysts’ expectations thanks to a greater-than-expected decline in sales of new game titles for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

New York -- Overall retail sales rose 0.2% last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% increase.  Excluding autos however, December retail sales were up a solid 0.7%.

Auto sales fell 1.8%, dragging down broader figures, a reflection of  bad weather and calendar quirks than the start of a new trend. Retail spending figures for prior months were revised down to a 0.5% increase in October and a 0.4% rise in November.