Supply Chain & Merchandising

Chico, Calif. – Online home improvement retailer Build.com has successfully deployed 360price, 360pi’s exact match solution, to monitor pricing for more than a billion permutations and combinations of products, categories and competitors. Build.com seeks to leverage real-time price intelligence to drive conversions, revenues and margins.
 

Tractor Supply Company plans to open a store in Wyoming — its first-ever location in the state as it continues to expand into the Western region of the country.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop shrunk its net loss in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 to $1.4 million from $4.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The company announced that it expects to close an additional 10 to 25 stores in fiscal 2013 and 2014 and, along with opportunistic store openings, expects to reach a store count of approximately 250 stores in North America.

Consolidated net retail sales were $83.6 million while operating 31 fewer stores compared to $84.3 million in the fiscal 2012 third quarter, a decrease of 0.9%.

Sears Home Appliance Showrooms has completely revamped its interior in an effort to make the shopping experience convenient for consumers.

The updated sales floor presentations include a new merchandising layout allowing showrooms to expand key lines such as built-in cooking, cooktops and laundry and improve customer shopping experiences with new displays of dishwashers and floor care.

Toronto – Sobey’s Inc. has signed a consent agreement with the Canadian Competition Bureau allowing it to proceed with the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Canada Safeway.

As part of the consent agreement, Sobey’s will divest 23 stores in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Sasketchewan. The deal, announced in June, will cost Sobey’s owner Empire Co. Ltd. about $5.7 billion.

Lumber Liquidators increased its net income in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 58.4% to $20.4 million, from $12.9 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales grew 24.5% to $254.3 million, from $204.3 million in the same period a year earlier. Same-store sales grew 17.4%, driven by a 9.8% increase in the number of customers invoiced and a 6.9% increase in the average sale.  

Pleasanton, Calif. – Several buyout firms are reportedly considering attempting a partial or total purchase of Safeway Inc., with Cerberus Capital Management LP among the potential bidders, according to Reuters.

Safeway has retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an advisor, the report said.

True Religion Apparel has appointed Rosella Giuliani as SVP of merchandising. In her new role, Giuliani will partner with CMO Lynne Koplin and creative director Gary Harvey to shape True Religion’s merchandising across the company’s platforms.

Giuliani will report to Koplin. Steve Horak will join the company as SVP of planning and allocation with responsibility for the brand’s product distribution, effective Nov. 4. He will report to CFO and COO Eric Bauer.