News

Chico’s FAS Inc. has revealed plans to close more stores, cut jobs and decrease its capital spending to $100 million for fiscal 2015, a 29% decrease to its three-year average.

Better than expected fourth quarter same store sales growth and big increase in gross margins have JCPenney eyeing potentially faster topline growth in 2015.

The company said its same store sales for fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 increased 4.4%, above the forecast range of 2% to 4% provided at the end of the third quarter. Total sales increased 2.9% to nearly $3.9 billion and online sales grew 12.5% to $428 million.

Mountain View, Calif. – Google is reportedly testing the inclusion of live chat with businesses linked directly within search results. According to TechCrunch, a search results card will show consumers whether a business they have search for is available for chat, and then immediately launch a Google Hangouts chat if help is in fact available.

New York - L.L. Bean provided the best overall customer service in the fiscal fourth quarter 2014, topping the first quarterly release of Stella Benchmarks. Companies included are part of StellaService’s daily customer care evaluations and weekly product orders.

Two companies – J.Crew and L.L. Bean – managed to rank in the Top 25 overall every month in 2014. So, it comes as no surprise that those two retailers are at the top of the most recent benchmarks.

New York - Brooks Brothers has expanded its cloud supply chain strategy using the GT Nexus platform. Since 2007, the retailer has used GT Nexus for procurement and settlement processes, and now will leverage that same data and connectivity to extend supply chain visibility, support international growth and reduce costs.

San Mateo, Calif. – Almost half (48%) of consumers say they purchase more from retailers that leverage shopper interests and buying behavior to personalize the customer experience across all channels.

Minneapolis -- Target on Wednesday reported a net loss of $2.6 billion (pre-tax loss of $5.1 billion) in its fourth quarter due to the impact of its exit from Canada, compared to a $520 million gain year-ago period. However, the chain’s adjusted earnings came in at $1.50 per share, beating Wall Street estimates of $1.46 per share.

Target’s sales increased 4.1% to $21.8 billion, also better than expected, on increased store traffic and online growth. It was the chain’s best sales growth in three years.

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Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Cos. on Wednesday reported an 11% rise in fourth quarter profit and said it would raise employee pay above the minimum wage.  It also announced plans to expand into two more global markets.

On a more downbeat note, the off-price giant said it expected a strong dollar to reduce its profit by 5% and the new wage hikes to lower earnings by 4% the year ending Jan. 30, 2016.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's Cos. reported net earnings of $450 million for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, a 47.0% increase over the year-ago period. Sales for the quarter increased 7.6% to $12.5 billion, up from $11.7 billion in the year-ago quarter.