News

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. reported falling profits and sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Lower online commissions from Sears Holdings, lower initial franchise revenues, and lower delivery income helped reduce net income to $2.15 million from $3.68 million.

Net sales in the first quarter of 2015 decreased 1% to $582.8 million from $589.9 million. This decrease was driven primarily by a 1.2% decrease in same-store sales.

San Jose, Calif. – Retail sales dropped 7.6% in May 2015 compared to the same month the prior year. According to the monthly Store Performance Pulse from store analytics provider RetailNext, a 9.8% decrease in traffic and 8.3% drop in transactions drove the sales decline.

Much of these declines were concentrated in the third week of the month, leading to an earlier-than-usual Memorial Day weekend.

Framingham, Mass. – The proposed $6.3 billion merger of Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. has cleared a global regulatory hurdle. Staples has received clearance from the Commerce Commission of New Zealand to acquire all the outstanding shares of Office Depot, which trades in New Zealand as OfficeMax.

San Diego – PriceSmart Inc. increased net and same-store sales during May 2015. Net sales increased 14% to $230.2 million, from $202.3 million in May a year earlier.

Same-store sales rose 4.6%. There were 36 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of May 2015.
 

Walnut Creek, Calif. -- Retailers underestimate how much digital technology influences physical shopping experiences, but their expectations are rapidly catching up to reality. According to a new study from RSR Research, “Commerce Convergence: Closing the Gap between Consumer and Brand,” while 84% of retailers surveyed say a digital presence is very important to build brand awareness, but only 64% say it is very important to drive traffic to stores.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) is publicly supporting legislation that would amend the federal Taft-Hartley Act to allow governors to intervene in port labor disputes rather than being required to ask the White House to do so.

Franklin, Tenn. - The new EMV card payment mandate may not provide financial ROI for retailers. According to new research from IHL Group, most retailers will never recoup the expense that EMV imposes.

Rob Walton relinquished the position of chairman of the board of directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., to his son-in-law, Greg Penner, at the company annual meeting on June 5.

The move to elevate Penner to the new role didn’t come as huge shock since the stage had been set for the move at Walmart’s annual meeting last year when Walton, 70, announced Penner had been named the board’s vice chairman. Walton has served as chairman of the board since 1992 the same year that his father and company founder Sam Walton died. He will continue to serve on the board.

Digital design and marketing consultancy Razorfish made two key hires to bolster the capabilities of its rapidly growing commerce practice led by Commerce Strategy head Jason Goldberg.

Jon Reily and Steve White were named vice presidents of commerce strategy and both will report to Goldberg. The hire are said to help the agency meet the increasing demand from clients looking for partners able to combine commerce strategy with world-class delivery to reinvent and digitize their retail channels.

Dick’s Sporting Goods named veteran consumer packaged goods finance executive Teri List executive vice president and CFO to oversee the retailer’s finance and legal organizations.