Supply Chain & Merchandising

Canadian dollar-store operator Dollarama reported an increase in sales and an improvement in net earnings for the third quarter ended Nov. 3. The quarter was characterized by continued growth in the store network and solid comparable store sales growth.

Sales for the quarter increased by 14.2% to $522.9 million from $458 million in the year-ago period. The increase was driven, in part, by the growth in the number of stores in the past 12 months, from 761 stores on Oct. 28, 2012 to 847 stores on Nov. 3, 2013.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Kohl’s will keep its doors open for more than 100 hours straight, beginning at 6 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 20 through 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24. Kohl’s is also offering free gift boxes and a “no questions asked” returns policy that offers full refunds and exchanges for purchases made with a receipt or on a Kohl’s charge card.

By Steve Cole, CMO, Gladson

Here’s a bit of holiday cheer for retailers: According to Shop.org, online sales will grow 13%-15% this holiday season. But do retailers have what it takes to cash in?

Tempe, Ariz. -- Togo's Eateries has opened its first restaurant in Tempe, Ariz., owned by current Togo's franchisees, Monty and Diana Coury, who opened the first Togo's restaurant in Gilbert, Ariz., last year.

"Since opening our first restaurant in Gilbert, we've seen a tremendous amount of support from the community and there is still a huge potential for growth in the market,” said Monty Coury.

Los Angeles -- Guess Inc. saw profit in the third quarter dip 3.4% to $35.4 million, from $36.6 million for the third quarter last year. Results, however, surpassed company expectations.

"We are pleased to report better than expected third quarter earnings. We delivered revenues within the range of our expectations and through our continued focus on cost control have been able to deliver profitability at the high end of our expectations,” said Paul Marciano, CEO.

Unprecedented shopper traffic was seen at Target on Black Friday, according to president, CEO and chairman, Gregg Steinhafel, who also said the retailer provided exceptional service without offering much insight into sales.

Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo USA division named a new CEO with a familiar name to lead what is expected to be an accelerated growth plan.

Uniqlo elevated existing COO Lawrence Meyer to the role of CEO to lead is 17 unit U.S. operation roughly one year after he joined the company. In his new role, Meyer will oversee the day-to-day operations of the Uniqlo brand and be responsible for the ongoing development of the company retail footprint in the U.S.

Atlanta -- Direct Wines, the world’s largest online wine retailer, has successfully deployed advanced, end-to-end planning, promotion, forecasting and fulfillment solutions from Predictix, a provider of cloud-based, predictive analytics solutions for retailers. The applications went live last month and will support the current operation and future growth strategy of Direct Wines' international, omni-channel business.