News

Philadelphia – Urban Outfitters, Inc. reported stronger than expected net sales, which drove a 39% increase in net earnings. The specialty retailer reported record total net sales of $648 million during first quarter fiscal 2014, up 14% from $568 million in the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the quarter were $47 million, higher than analyst expectations and up 39% from first quarter fiscal 2013.

MINNEAPOLIS — Store closures and a shift in this year’s Super Bowl affected Best Buy’s results for the 13-week period ended May 4. 

Framingham, Mass. – The TJX Companies, Inc. reported increased net sales during first quarter fiscal 2014. Revenue rose almost 7% from the same quarter a year earlier to about $6.2 billion, while same store sales grew 2% on top of an 8% increase from last year. Net earnings totaled $453 million.

CEO Carol Meyrowitz said that a flexible business model allowed TJX to have a profitable quarter despite adverse weather conditions. “Flowing the right merchandise at the right time continued to be key to strong merchandise margins,” she said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — CVS Caremark president and CEO Larry Merlo has been named the 2013 March of Dimes Rhode Island 2013 Citizen of the Year for his and the company’s ongoing support of the March of Dimes mission.

Merlo will be honored for the achievement at a June 18 reception held at the Providence Public Library. The recognition and fundraising event will take place as part of the 75th anniversary year of March of Dimes and the 50th anniversary year of the pharmacy innovation company.

San Diego – Tommy Bahama is employing the IT Service Automation Application Suite from cloud-based IT services provider ServiceNow to automate IT functions such as incident management, change management, problem management, configuration management database and service catalog. The specialty apparel brand is also using the SaaS-based Orchestrate solution from ServiceNow to streamline the hiring and training process.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, is heading across the Atlantic for the first time.

The company has signed partnership agreements with Toy Galaxy and Toadstool in the U.K. to integrate the Virtual Piggy solution into both companies' e-commerce operations. 

New York – Saks Incorporated reported a roughly 5% increase in total sales between first quarter 2012 and first quarter 2013, although net income dropped during that same time period. Total sales for the first quarter of this year were $793.2 million, up from $753.6 million in the first quarter of last year. However, net income of $20 million for first quarter 2013 was down close to 40% from $32.7 million for first quarter 2012. Same store sales increased 5.9%.

AUSTIN, Texas — Tabbedout has teamed up with Google to offer Google Wallet as a payment source in the Tabbedout app for Android. Consumers will now have the opportunity to pay from their smartphones, using their Google accounts, at thousands of Tabbedout locations.