News

New Zealand approves Staples-Office Depot merger
Framingham, Mass. – The proposed $6.3 billion merger of Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. has cleared a global regulatory hurdle. Staples has received clearance from the Commerce Commission of New Zealand to acquire all the outstanding shares of Office Depot, which trades in New Zealand as OfficeMax.
Zumiez meets Street with Q1 income, will open 57 stores
Lynnwood, Wash. – Zumiez Inc. met Wall Street expectations for profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Net income rose 12% to $2.8 million from $2.5 million the same period a year earlier, aided by slowing growth rates of cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses.

Kroger shuffles Harris Teeter executives

The Kroger Co. has named Fred Morganthall, currently president of Harris Teeter Supermarkets, as senior vice president of retail divisions for the Kroger Co.

Rod Antolock, currently Harris Teeter's executive vice president, has been named president of Harris Teeter.
Chinese Laundry’s omnichannel integration

New York -- Following an e-commerce upgrade, women’s shoe retailer Chinese Laundry is now going to change its e-commerce site to responsive design in the coming months an effort to increase its mobile conversion rate, Scott Cohn, VP president of e-commerce, said during a session at the annual Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago.
Profit drops at Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc.
Dick’s names ex-Kraft, P&G exec CFO

Dick’s Sporting Goods named veteran consumer packaged goods finance executive Teri List executive vice president and CFO to oversee the retailer’s finance and legal organizations.
Same-store sales show modest growth in May

New York – Same-store sales generally showed modest growth in May 2015, on the whole meeting Wall Street analyst expectations. The apparel vertical in particular generally outperformed analyst predictions, although Gap, Banana Republic and Zumiez all reported negative same-store sales growth.

Following is a review of May same-store sales by vertical:

Apparel
Banana Republic: – 5%
The Buckle: 2.4%
Gap: – 6%
L Brands: 5%
Old Navy: 6%
Stein Mart: 1.9%
American Greetings tops in online trust

Bellevue, Wash. – American Greetings is the most trusted online retailer. According to the 2015 E-Commerce Online Trust Audit and Honor Roll from The Online Trust Alliance (OTA), 2015’s top 10 most trustworthy online retailers (11 due to a scoring tie) are American Greetings, Cabela's, Drs. Foster & Smith, Fanatics, GameStop, The Honest Company, Jomashop, Kate Spade New York, LivingSocial, Netflix, and SparkFun Electronics.
How McMillon is reinventing Walmart

According to Fortune, CEO Doug McMillon may be the best prepared executive to lead the company since Sam Walton.

The magazine details how McMillon is guiding the retail giant in the Age of Disruption.

Read more by clicking here.
Sam’s Club enhances omnichannel pickup

Bentonville, Ark. - Sam’s Club has improved its Club Pickup buy-online-pickup-in-store service, formerly known as Click ‘n Pull, with new features. Club Pickup allows members to order thousands of items, from paper towels to fresh produce to printer ink, and have them ready for pick up at all U.S. Sam’s Club locations at no additional cost.