News

Carle Place, N.Y. –- 1-800-Flowers.com reported a net loss of $4.58 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, a slight improvement from the $4.64 million net loss reported in the same quarter a year earlier. Expenses drove the company’s net loss.  

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald’s is collaborating with mobile commerce provider Softcard. Customers will now be able to tap and pay both in-restaurant and in the drive-thru lane at all U.S. McDonald’s locations, marking the largest deployment of NFC-based mobile commerce in drive-thru.  

Bentonville, Ark. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly apologized for offering Halloween outfits labeled as “fat girl” costumes on its e-commerce site. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart issued the apology after receiving social media criticism from offended consumers.  

By Murali Nadarajah, Xchanging Malaysia   Consumers can purchase virtually anything they want anytime from anywhere, from the Internet to social media to mobile devices to good old brick-and-mortar stores. As a result of today’s omnichannel approach to retail, chain stores now have access to a massive collection of customer data that hasn’t existed until recently.  

With a title like “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” Walmart’s strategy to sell the popular game a day early, host in-store events and unveil a new used game assortment at 1,700 locations seems appropriately aggressive.

Two massive Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores are planned to open in the United Arab Emirates capital city of Abu Dhabi in what could be the first of other international moves for the department store operator.

An innovative experiment in customer service involving robots is underway at a Lowe’s Orchard Supply Hardware store in Silicon Valley.

The Home Depot is offering a new LED light bulb from Cree that is said to be brighter and longer lasting.

The LED bulbs resemble tradition incandescent bulbs but offer superior performance at a lower price, according to Cree. The new bulb provides the same cost savings and 25,000-hour lifetime that made the original Cree LED Bulb America’s best-selling LED bulb, according to the company. The new bulbs are available at Home Depot as 40- and 60-watt replacements in two color temperatures (soft white and daylight) for just under $8.

Consider it a Black Friday dress rehearsal as 99 Cents Only Stores invites all sorts of lunacy into stores with extended hours and a discount promotion in advance of Halloween.

The retailer is offering a $5 discount on purchases of $25 or more as part of its Halloween Midnight Madness promotion involving numerous stores in Southern California. The promotion period runs from 10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30 until midnight. The premise behind the promotion is that customers can use the extra time to secure amazing last minute Halloween deals, according to the company.

Strong sales and market share gains for Opa by Litehouse Feta Dill Greek Yogurt earned the new product the Dressing of the Year award from The Association for Dressings & Sauces.

The dressing and sauce group held its annual meeting in Naples, Fl., recently and bestowed top honors on Litehouse due to the impressive performance of Feta Dill Greek Yogurt. In one year, the new product became the best-selling dressing in the market accounting for 21% of the yogurt refrigerated salad dressing category, according to Litehouse.