News

Michaels beats Street in Q1; shifts CFO
Specialty arts and crafts retailer The Michaels Companies Inc. exceeded Wall Street expectations for profit and sales in a generally strong first quarter of fiscal 2016.

Michaels reported net income of $70.76 million, a 6% increase from $66.74 million the same quarter a year earlier. Improvements in gross profit helped boost net income.
Ralph Lauren restructuring to include shuttering 50 stores
Ralph Lauren Corp. is seeking to rectify what it acknowledges have been operational mistakes with a program of cuts and organizational streamlining it calls “The Way Forward Plan.”

Massive Ralph Lauren restructuring to include shuttering 50 stores

Ralph Lauren Corp. is seeking to rectify what it acknowledges have been operational mistakes with a program of cuts and organizational streamlining it calls “The Way Forward Plan.”
MinuteClinic comes to Target stores in new state

The CVS/Health-Target partnership continues to grow.

MinuteClinic, the retail medical clinic of CVS Health, has opened eight new locations inside Target stores in Maryland, including six in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The clinics have been rebranded and converted to MinuteClinic. There are now 43 MinuteClinic locations in Maryland, including clinics in select CVS Pharmacy stores.
Lower costs equal higher Q4 profits at Casey’s; store growth planned

Casey’s General Stores Inc. reported increased net income and decreased revenue during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.

The retailer also said it plans to build or acquire 77 to 116 new stores, among other goals for fiscal 2017.

In the fourth quarter, Casey’s reported net income of $47.04 million, up 14% from $41.34 million the same period the prior year. Total revenue fell 4% to $1.58 billion, from $1.65 billion. A significant reduction in cost of goods sold offset increases in operating and other expenses, resulting in higher profits.
Tech Guest Viewpoint: Megatrends for retail and commerce

Today’s retailers face significant challenges as online increases its share of wallet, mall-based stores stumble, technology requirements mount, and customer engagement remains elusive for many. The business environment is clearly marked by the need to rationalize store counts, headcount, and product count.

As management faces up to these challenges, they seek purposeful justification of expenditures, higher shareholder returns, and greater customer engagement.
Which home improvement retailer is most satisfactory?

When it comes to customer experience, home improvement shoppers have established a long-term favorite.

Ace Hardware ranks highest in customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers for a 10th consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study. The study measures customer satisfaction with home improvement retailers by examining merchandise; price; sales and promotions; staff and service; and store facility. Satisfaction is measured on a 1,000-point scale.
Commentary: Food Network offering shows increasing reach of e-commerce

The expansion of online fulfillment availability is giving retailers new avenues for selling goods via the Internet.

The latest example of how non-traditional e-commerce opportunities are popping up is a just-launched partnership between Food Network and Instacart. The lifestyle network/website does directly sell a variety of cooking-related products and utensils online, but until now has not been involved in the sale of food items.
Study: Everybody loves e-commerce

It seems safe to say the novelty of shopping online has worn off.

According to a new study examining the online shopping and purchase habits of the U.S. population from e-commerce platform BigCommerce, 96% of Americans are shopping online. E-commerce customers spend an average of five hours per week making online purchases and allocate an average of 36% of their shopping budgets to e-commerce.

Respondents ranked online shopping ahead of smartphone GPS and streaming media as a basic essential they could not live without.
Dollar General adds to fulfillment network

Photo: Dollar General executives and local leaders cut the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening celebration of the company's new San Antonio Distribution Center. (L to R, Steve Sunderland; Wayne Peacock, Chairman, San Antonio Economic Development Foundation; Bexar County Judge, Nelson Wolff; Mike Kindy; Mario Tort; Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO; Jeff Owen; Alan Warrick, San Antonio City Council; Jeff Owen; Bob Ravener; Jim Thorpe)