News

Old Navy promotes spring fashions to Millennials via Tumblr, Yahoo
New York -- Old Navy is promoting its spring fashions with a new marketing campaign running across Tumblr and Yahoo. Designed to engage Millennial women, the campaign will use Old Navy’s Tumblr page as the content hub and combine native, video and display advertising across Yahoo properties and its extended network.
FullBeauty Brands renews credit, loyalty agreement with Alliance Data
New York – Specialty apparel retailer FullBeauty Brands has signed a long-term renewal agreement to continue receiving private label credit card services from Alliance Data Systems Corp. Alliance Data will launch the newly branded credit card programs tailored for FullBeauty Brands and work to enhance the company's long-term loyalty efforts through a new integrated rewards program.

Staples launches omnichannel service aimed at small business

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.
Survey: Consumers not that interested in mobile payment

New York - U.S. consumers are no more interested in paying for purchases using mobile phones than they were six months ago, when Apple unveiled Apple Pay. According to a new poll of 1,000 U.S. adults from CreditCards.com, 17% of respondents said they would pay for items using a cellphone "always" or "most of the time" if they could.
Lands' End launches digital swimsuit finder

Just in time for bikini season, Lands’ End is introducing a new digital tool to solve the most vexing seasonal dilemma for many women: finding the perfect swimsuit.

The Lands' End Swim Finder is an online tool that helps women select the perfect swimsuit. The tool was created to provide a professional swimsuit fitting consultation virtually, in the comfort and privacy of one's home.
Urban Outfitters Q4 profit falls but beats Street

Philadelphia – Net income fell at Urban Outfitters Inc. during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, but still beat Wall Street expectations.

Urban Outfitters reported net income of $80.3 million, down 9% from $88.68 million the same quarter a year earlier. Lower initial merchandise markups, increased markdowns and higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses all contributed to the decline.
Kohl’s is tops for shopping for clothes in Piper Jaffray survey

Boston – Kohl’s will be pleased to hear that women love shopping for clothes there. According to a new survey from Piper Jaffray, a leading 12% of female consumers selected Kohl’s as their preferred clothing brand/store/website for spring 2015. Macy’s took second place with 9%, followed by J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart (7%) and Amazon (5%).

Kohl’s has taken the top spot in Piper Jaffray’s biannual survey since fall 2013.
ICSC applauds as Marketplace Fairness Act of 2015 introduced in Congress

Washington, D.C -- The International Council of Shopping Centers applauded the introduction by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) of the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2015 in the 114th Congress. This legislation is aimed at ending the special treatment afforded online-only sellers at the expense of brick-and-mortar retailers, according to ICSC. It tracks closely with legislation that the Senate passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in 2013.
It's official: PetSmart to go private

PetSmart’s investors have officially approved a buyout of the company by a private equity firm, setting up a payout to stockholders of $83 per share.

In December, PetSmart announced it accepted a bid on the company for $8.7 billion. The company expects the transaction to close on March 11. The buyout means PetSmart will become a private company.
NPD Group and Nielsen get cooking at Housewares Show

The biggest news at the International Home and Housewares Show didn’t involve a new product introduction, but rather an information sharing arrangement between The NPD Group and Nielsen that will help retailers and supplier make sense of the market.