News

Louisville, Ky. -- Papa John’s is launching a television commercial starring iconic sportscaster Jim Nantz, and Papa John’s founder, chairman and CEO, John Schnatter, touting the company’s online ordering platform. The commercial also reminds consumers that Papa John’s was the first national pizza company with online ordering at all of its U.S. delivery restaurants in 2001.

The nation’s largest mattress retailer has launched new web and mobile commerce sites which rely on a cloud-based solution to support future growth.

Crossmark, a leading sales and marketing services company, has elevated president and COO Ben Fischer to the CEO spot, effective April 7. He will succeed Joe Crafton, who is retiring after 26 years of service with the company.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens on Tuesday reported a profit of $754 million for the second quarter, down from $756 million in the year-ago period, amid lower sales of generic drugs. The retailer also said it will close 76 locations in the second half, although it plans to increase its total store count by 55 to 75 by the end of the year.

Sales for the quarter ended Feb. 28 rose 5.1% to $19.6 billion, beating expectations. Prescription sales, which accounted for 62.2% of sales in the quarter, increased 7.0%.

Despite expected headwinds from slower generic drug introductions, comparisons with last year's flu season and severe weather, Walgreens saw solid top-line growth in the second quarter ended Feb. 28, driven by record quarterly sales and record second-quarter prescriptions filled.

The company also continued to gain prescription market share while maintaining a firm hold on its costs.

Walgreens posted a sales increase of 5.1% to $19.6 billion for the quarter. First half sales were up 5.5% to $37.9 billion.

Burlington, Mass. -- Sleepy’s, one of the nation’s leading mattress retailers,  has deployed  a cloud commerce platform as the backbone of its digital operations. The company has launched new web and mobile commerce sites new web and mobile commerce sites on the Demandware platform. Sleepy's switched from an on-premise platform to Demandware's cloud solution as part of a strategic move to advance its omni-channel initiatives and provide consumers with consistent experiences across all channels, including web, mobile and the physical store.

Boston -- The single biggest challenge for retailers is to understand, empower and represent the digitally empowered consumer across all touch points, according to new research from Oracle.

Gordmans Stores president and CEO Jeff Gordman has resigned his post. According to the company, he is retiring to spend more time with his family as well as to pursue outside interests. Board chairman T. Scott King will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for Gordman’s successor.