News

For the past two months, New England has been dealing with an historically snowy, cold winter. As a lifelong resident of the region, I have had time to reflect on a few technology-related lessons retailers can take from my experience as a snowbound consumer.

Factor the Weather into your Planning

As Barnes & Noble tries to write a new, more profitable chapter by spinning off its college division, the company reported that its Nook division is still weighing on revenue. 

The company said same store sales at Barnes & Noble Inc. (excluding Nook) increased 1.7% in the third quarter, which ended Jan. 31. Analysts had estimated a 1% decline. Taking Nook sales into account, same store sales declined .3%. Third quarter revenue of $1.96 billion declined $35 million as compared to the prior year.

Staples is expanding its omnichannel capabilities with a new service that hopes to take advantage of small business growth in 2015.

According to a new Staples survey conducted by Research Now, the majority of small business leaders (87%) are optimistic about the year ahead. To help small business customers drive growth in 2015, Staples has launched Print-to-Store.

Faced with dwindling expansion opportunities for traditional department stores, Macy is looking to significantly grow standalone beauty stores following its recently completed acquisition of the 60 unit specialty beauty retailer Bluemercury.

The decade-old team effort between Lowe's and Habitat for Humanity was on display again this month in Las Vegas, but this time, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion joined the team as well.

Jimmie Johnson worked together with Lowe’s employee volunteers and other volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas to raise the walls of a new home at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Kobalt 400 race weekend.

Retailers could soon be having to find space on the shelf for a new Lay’s chip as the brand continues its third year of crowd-sourced product development.

PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division has announced a last call for submissions in its search for the next great potato chip flavor as part of the Lay's "Do Us A Flavor" contest. Fans have until March 30 to submit flavor ideas for the chance to win a $1 million grand prize.

Neiman Marcus got a boost in the second quarter from its October purchase of mytheresa.com, a German luxury e-retailer.

For the 13 weeks ended Jan. 31, the company reported a profit of $27.8 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $84 million. Revenue grew to $1.52 billion from $1.43 billion in the prior-year period. Sales at stores open more than a year and online rose 5.6%.

Deliv, the crowdsourced, same-day delivery service used by many omnichannel retailers, has hired an ex-executive at eBay to be its new product chief.

Kenneth Pate, former VP of product management at eBay, will bring a decade of experience in omnichannel execution to the startup. The company says Pate will be responsible for the Deliv experience across the same-day delivery service value chain, which includes retailers, shoppers, drivers and mall operators.

Saks and nine top fashion footwear designers offered their stunning interpretations of Cinderella’s slipper to generate in-store excitement at Saks’ flagship store.