Omnichannel

Following a disappointing fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Feb. 1, Toys “R” Us hosted investors, industry analysts and the media and outlined its strategy for improving its operational performance and driving profitable growth in the future.

Houston -- While 91 new stores boosted sales for the final fiscal quarter and year-end, Francesca’s Holdings Corp. saw net income for the 13-week period ended Feb. 1 slide to $10.6 million, from $14.9 million last year.

Same-store sales fell 6%, swinging from a 10% increase in the prior year quarter. Revenue surged to $92.1 million from $86.7 million, helped by 91 new boutique openings since the prior year quarter.  Five of the 91 opened during the fourth quarter.

New York -- Social media delivers more than wish-list window shopping — it is, essentially, a social-purchasing path for young women that leverages each platform's strength and point of engagement to enhance the shopping process, according to a survey by Teen Vogue. And according to respondents, the future belongs to Instagram. It is the platform most cited as the one that "everyone will be talking about next year," and the clear must-have app this year.

Burlington, Mass. -- Sleepy’s, one of the nation’s leading mattress retailers,  has deployed  a cloud commerce platform as the backbone of its digital operations. The company has launched new web and mobile commerce sites new web and mobile commerce sites on the Demandware platform. Sleepy's switched from an on-premise platform to Demandware's cloud solution as part of a strategic move to advance its omni-channel initiatives and provide consumers with consistent experiences across all channels, including web, mobile and the physical store.

The nation’s largest mattress retailer has launched new web and mobile commerce sites which rely on a cloud-based solution to support future growth.

Newton, Mass. – Clark’s Americas Inc., a division of the global shoe brand with more than 300 stores in the U.S., is deploying the Yottaa Engagement Cloud to optimize user engagement and business performance on its U.S. e-commerce site. In fall 2013, the e-commerce team at the Americas division of Clarks sought a solution that could help scale and provide a consistent, engaging Web experience throughout the busy holiday shopping season and beyond.

Boston -- The single biggest challenge for retailers is to understand, empower and represent the digitally empowered consumer across all touch points, according to new research from Oracle.

Although fourth-quarter sales at J. Crew increased, the retailer saw profit drop 42% in the quarter amid higher costs.

Net income fell to $5.92 million in the quarter, down from $10.2 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased 6.7% to $686.2 million. Retail store sales rose 5% to $438.6 million and direct sales jumped 10% to $238.1 million

Same-store sales, which include direct sales, increased 3%. Excluding a calendar shift, comparable-store sales increased 4%.