News

ABILENE, Kan. — Broad-line retailer Duckwall-ALCO Stores increased sales and returned to profit in the third-quarter as the company continued to experience top-line growth across multiple categories. The company reported that net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 3.6% to $109.8 million, compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Same-store sales, excluding fuel center sales, increased 2.7%. 

Abilene, Kan. -- Duckwall-ALCO Stores reported Friday that it recorded a profit of $0.1 million in the quarter ended Oct. 30, compared with a loss of $2.1 million in the year-ago period.

Sales increased 3.6% to $109.8 million, and same-store sales excluding fuel centers increased 2.7%. 

Dallas -- Online menswear retailer Big Tall Direct said Friday it has partnered with TrustPilot to measure customer satisfaction.  

"By integrating TrustPilot with our existing systems, our potential consumers benefit from the shopping experience of our established consumers", said Rob Schlein, president, Big Tall Direct.

New York City -- The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment showed Friday that confidence among U.S. consumers rose more than forecast in December as Americans’ outlooks improved. 

The index rose to 67.7, a six-month high, from 64.1 at the end of November. The median estimate of 73 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a reading of 65.8. The gauge averaged 89 in the five years leading up to the recession that began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. 

Well, another Black Friday has come and gone. And, much to the surprise of many (myself included), it did so with a bang. General consensus is that the Black Friday sales bonanza was a rousing success, and the numbers certainly support that: ShopperTrak reported that Black Friday sales increased 6.6% over the 2010 numbers, with a record-breaking $11.4 billion in purchases. More people were out and about — foot traffic reports show an increase of about 5% over last year, which is good news for the brick and mortar guys.

San Mateo, Calif. -- IBM and DemandTec announced Thursday that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement for IBM to acquire DemandTec in a deal worth approximately $440 million.

IBM said the acquisition of DemandTec will extend its Smarter Commerce initiative by adding cloud-based price, promotion and other merchandising and marketing analytics to help companies better define the best price points and product mix based on customer buying trends.

Optimism, skepticism, confidence and concern are among the wide range of emotions shared by Walmart trading partners who participated in the Second Annual Supplier Survey conducted by Connecting Northwest Arkansas. 

Wal-Mart Stores said it would offer better financial education and investment options to its associates, following its agreement, along with Merill Lynch, to pay a total of $13.5 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit alleging the retailer and its retirement plan administrator breached their fiduciary duty toward nearly 2 million past and present Walmart workers in the company’s 401(k) plan, Forbes.com reported.