News

In pursuit of the holy grail of maximizing supply chain efficiency, solutions provider Orchestro is taking on the $252 billion challenge with the latest version of its Tango product platform.

Orchestro is a leading demand analytics and data management company and Tango is the name of the collection of software solutions consumer packaged goods companies use to solve some of their biggest supply chain challenges. Technically speaking, Tango is what supply chain executives and IT types call a SaaS-based demand signal management platform.

BJ's Wholesale Club is forming a new partnership with Toshiba as the retailer accelerates its efforts to drive member loyalty and sales.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. says it has selected Toshiba TCxCare to manage and be the single point of contact for “wall to wall” maintenance services at its 200 stores.

The Container Store may have cleared the low bar it set for itself in the first quarter, but reporting a loss and another quarter of negative same store sales can’t feel good.

Ottawa, Canada – Home Depot is narrowing its price gap with Amazon.com, which typically offers the lowest overall prices on home improvement goods.

 According to a recent study from pricing analytics provider 360pi, “Building Up to Home Improvement Season,” Home Depot was the most aggressively priced home improvement “category killer,” with an average price of just more than 5% above Amazon, narrowing down to around 3% above Amazon by the end of the sampled period (May 1 – June 16, 2015).

Chesapeake, Va. -- It’s a done deal.

Dollar Tree announced Monday that it has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores.

Gary Philbin, 58, formerly president and COO of Dollar Tree, has been named to the same position at Family Dollar, effective immediately. In his new role, Philbin will continue to report to Bob Sasser, CEO of Dollar Tree.

Los Angeles -- American Apparel on Monday announced it would close some stores as part of a $30 million cost-cutting initiative in its strategic turnaround plan. (American Apparel CEO Paula Schneider discussed the plan with CSA in a recent interview.) The embattled company also made two other revealing disclosures.

New York -- Let’s be clear about one thing: Paula Schneider is not changing the DNA of American Apparel. The apparel industry veteran, who took the reins of the troubled retail company in January 2015, is quite proud of the brand’s progressive spirit.

“We are a very inclusive brand,” Schneider told Chain Store Age. “One that gives everyone the opportunity to express themselves. You can see it in our clothes and in the causes we support.”

Seattle – July is often a slow-paced month for consumers, but Amazon.com is seeking to change that. In an effort to promote its Amazon Prime paid loyalty program, the retailer is encouraging customers to celebrate “Prime Day,” a one-day global shopping event on July 15 that is says will have more deals than Black Friday.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack, which came to the brink of disappearing earlier this year, will see its brand continue to live on thanks to new financing.

General Wireless Operations Inc., doing business as RadioShack, has completed new financing totaling $75 million, consisting of a $50 million asset based lending credit facility led by RBC Capital Markets and a $25 million first-in last-out term loan led by Great American Capital Partners.

Dallas – A retailer’s social media activity has a greater impact on shoppers than the company’s website.

That’s one of the findings of the Digital Shopping Tool Impact Study 2015 from marketing technology provider Epsilon. The platform shoppers cite as most influential to their shopping decisions is Facebook, although Pinterest and Google+ are strong contenders.