News

Armonk, N.Y. – IBM plans to commit more than $1.2 billion to significantly expand its global cloud footprint. This investment includes a network of data centers designed to bring clients greater flexibility, transparency and control of how they manage their data, run their businesses and deploy their IT operations in the cloud.

Montreal - Adverse weather conditions as well as power outages in some of Dollarama’s core markets throughout the month of December 2013 resulted in a significant reduction in store traffic and the temporary closure of approximately 80 stores, for periods ranging from a few hours to two consecutive days. The majority of the impacted days occurred during the two weekends leading up to Dec. 25.

Pleasant Ridge, Mich. - Digital engagement firm ePrize today announced a new name, “HelloWorld.” HelloWorld is also releasing a SaaS-based rich engagement platform including the following solutions that can be deployed across microsites, SMS, social, mobile sites, apps and in-store.

● Mobile marketing: SMS, in-app push notifications, custom mobile app experiences, mobile clubs, alerts, mobile coupons and location-based services.

New York – Hair care brand Matrix, a subsidiary of L'Oreal USA, is launching Matrix Class for Glass, a new Google Glass app. Class for Glass features a three-phase rollout, including an exclusive blogger video series, the Matrix Eye for Style Google Glass Salon Chair and a salon professional education platform.

New York -- Neiman Marcus Group on Thursday posted a statement on its website in which it said that, to its knowledge, customers' Social Security numbers and birthdates were not stolen during its holiday security breach. Last week, the retailer revealed that some of customers' payment information had been stolen and that the thieves had made unauthorized charges.

A 20,000-sq.-ft. store called TargetExpress is set to become the newest addition to the retailer’s portfolio of formats when it opens this July in downtown Minneapolis.

In an interview with The New York Times, Target EVP for property development John Griffith said Target signed a lease last week for a space on the ground floor of an apartment building called the Marshall which is under construction near the University of Minnesota campus. The store is scheduled to open July 27.

Leading beauty products manufacturer Elizabeth Arden is the latest company to cite an intensely promotional marketplace as the reason for worse-than-expected holiday season sales and profits.

The company said sales for its second quarter ended Dec. 31, would be in the range of $414 to $418 million and earnings per share would be between $1.13 and $1.16, substantially below sales of $468 million and earnings of $1.47 during the same period the prior year.

Leading beauty products manufacturer Elizabeth Arden is the latest company to cite an intensely promotional marketplace as the reason for worse-than-expected holiday season sales and profits.

The company said sales for its second quarter ended Dec. 31, would be in the range of $414 to $418 million and earnings per share would be between $1.13 and $1.16, substantially below sales of $468 million and earnings of $1.47 during the same period the prior year.

Albertsons has confirmed that it plans to close 26 locations.

“This is part of our typical review cycle, and after reviewing store performance, we determined that these stores could not be positioned for future profitability, with the exception of the two stores in Acme that were closed for underperformance. The two Acme stores were closed because the leases are expiring,” the company said in a statement sent to sister publication Drug Store News.

Estée Lauder has named Jane Lauder as global brand president of Clinique. Succeeding Lauder will be Stephane de la Faverie, who has been named SVP/global general manager, Origins, Ojon and Darphin. Their new roles will become effective April 1.

Both Lauder and de la Faverie will report to Lynne Greene, group president of Clinique, Origins, Ojon, Aveda and Darphin. As announced in 2012, Greene was promoted to group president as part of an organizational redesign.