Data & Analytics

SGK, formerly marketed as Schawk, a leading global brand development, activation and deployment company that drives brand performance, has appointed Andrew Flynn as SVP of brand strategy.

In this new role, Flynn will focus on identifying and developing strategic brand solutions for clients to help drive brand performance by leveraging the services offered by Brandimage and Anthem, part of SGK's brand development group, and Schawk, the company's brand deployment business.

Toronto -- Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC) swung to a profit in its first quarter, boosted by strong sales at Saks Inc., which it acquired last year. Hudson's Bay has announced plans to bring Saks to Canada, starting with two locations in Toronto in 2015.

Kraft Foods Group has named George Zoghbi as vice chairman of operations, R&D, sales and strategy, a newly created position. He will report directly to CEO Tony Vernon.  

The company said that it created the new role to “bring together the expertise of several key areas under one leader, including research & development, which creates innovative new products and manages quality improvements, to the manufacturing and sales teams that make and ultimately deliver Kraft's products to customers.”

Sweetwater, Fla. -- Ikea announced it had completed the installation of South Florida’s largest solar array, which will be plugged-in officially atop the future Miami-Dade Ikea store opening this summer in Sweetwater, Florida. Combined with rooftop arrays in Orlando, Tampa, and Sunrise, this fourth solar project will keep Ikea as the state’s largest non-utility solar owner.

Seattle -- In collaboration with Disney, Starbucks Corp. has opened its first company-operated store at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, a nearly 4,000-sq.-ft. location at Downtown Disney West Side. This past March, Disney opened its first company-operated café at Downtown Disney, Anaheim, California. 

Hudson's Bay Company more than doubled sales in the first quarter driven primarily by its acquisition of Saks last year.

Retail sales were $1.9 billion, an increase of $971 million from $884 million for the prior year. Consolidated same-store sales increased by 2.8%, with increases of 2.5% at DSG, 2.6% at Saks Fifth Avenue and 15.1% at Off 5th. Digital commerce sales totaled $207 million, reflecting both the inclusion of Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor (which together are referred to as “Department Store Group” or DSG) and Saks.

Stein Mart is looking to tw telecom, a leading provider of business Ethernet and networking solutions, to help the retailer bolster its Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) service so it can directly connect and securely pass data to its more than 270 stores and data centers nationwide.

Undeterred by bad weather and competitive pressures that took a toll on its first quarter performance, Dollar General is pressing ahead with plans for 700 new stores, recently opened its 12th distribution center and believes its full year profit forecast is attainable.