News

The majority owner of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is looking to reduce its stake in the company following a holiday season sales performance CEO Mark Butler characterized as thrilling.

Build a Bear overcame a negative same store sales performance to produce better than expected profits in the fourth quarter.

Luxury dinnerware retailer Lenox is enjoying a feast of e-commerce delights with the aid of Oracle Commerce technology.

Lenox boosted e-commerce sales 26% during the 2015 holiday season compared to the two previous holiday seasons after deploying Oracle Commerce solutions that improved areas such as search results, recommendations, and targeted promotions. At the beginning of the holiday season, Lenox began targeting promotions for customer segments and launching more complex pricing strategies.

Offering a high-quality, seamless digital shopping experience is no longer a competitive differentiator, but a competitive necessity.

This is the main finding of a new study from Kibo (the new company created from the merger of MarketLive, Shopatron and Fiverun), “The Digitally Demanding Consumer.” The survey of 3,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers shows a high degree of omnichannel activity. Sixty-two percent of U.S. shoppers perform online research before visiting a store, and 80% of all respondents prefer to buy online and have products shipped home.

Consumer trend data shows that more than half of digital shoppers will use one specific channel for making purchases at least once within a year.

According to a new report from eMarketer, 95.1 million Americans ages 14 and older, or 51% of digital buyers, will make at least one purchase via a smartphone during 2017. This figure will rise to 55% by 2020.

The Tile Shop paved the way for continued growth in the fourth quarter, with an increase in same store sales and profits.

For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the specialty retailer reported a 9.8% same store sales increase, a 70.4% gross margin increase, and diluted earnings per share of 7 cents. Net sales grew 13.5% to $71.9 million for the fourth quarter compared with $63.3 million for the prior year quarter. 

Build-A-Bear Workshop on Tuesday said it will continue to diversify its store portfolio — including the opening of a branded experience on a cruise ship — as the chain announced disappointing results for its fourth quarter.

The retailer reported a better-than-expected profit of $20.6 million for the quarter, ended January 3, 2016, compared to net income of $11.8 million in the year ago period.

Tops Markets, a 167-unit supermarket chain based in Williamsville, New York, is leveraging advanced analytics to transform both its loss prevention and customer service efforts.