News

Tractor Supply Company has named former Ulta Beauty executive Robert D. Mills as SVP and chief information officer, succeeding James Callison. Mills will also serve on the company’s executive committee.

Callison, who informed the company last year about his plans to retire, will remain on-board for an undisclosed amount of time while the transition is completed.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma reported a better-than-expected profit of $133.8 million in the fourth quarter, up slightly from $133.7 million in the year-ago period. The company also announced it is lifting its dividend 2 cents, or 6%, to 33 cents a share.

In 1984, at the impressionable age of 17, Doug McMillon’s journey with Walmart began in a way that hardly foretold he would one day become CEO. On the way to a Walmart warehouse for his first day of unloading trucks, McMillon rear-ended his supervisor’s car with his father’s Honda Civic, he recalled in the February issue of Walmart World.

Although McMillon’s early exposure to Walmart came inside a sweltering distribution center, he said the camaraderie, enthusiasm and passion he witnessed let him know something special was going on.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. reportedly had early notice of the holiday data breach that exposed the personal and financial information of millions of customers but did not act upon it. According to Bloomberg, a $1.6 million security application called FireEye notified Target of a possible intrusion in to its network, but the retailer failed to respond.

Austin, Texas -- RetailMeNot has updated its free RetailMeNot Coupons app for iPhone and Android users. Existing users will be prompted to update their RetailMeNot Coupons app to access the new features.

New users can download the free RetailMeNot Coupons app by visiting the iTunes App Store or Google Play. The updated version includes significant consumer-facing enhancements to the experience, including:

Not many retailers can say they were very pleased with exceptional results during a compressed holiday season and challenging fourth quarter, but Steinmart did.

Same-store sales increased 3.1% for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 1, while total sales for the 13-week period declined to $360.8 million from $368.6 million because the fourth quarter the prior year included an extra week, which added sales of $15.8 million to the prior-year period.

Armonk, N.Y. -- With consumers engaging more directly with businesses through mobile and social media, more than 60% of CIOs will focus more heavily on improving the customer experience and getting closer to customers, according to a new report released by IBM.

The report, entitled "Moving from the Back Office to the Front Lines — CIO Insights from the Global C-suite Study” is based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,600 CIOs from 70 countries and 20 industries worldwide.