News

La-Z-Boy has appointed Aaron Thomas Brown as VP, strategy and analytics, a newly created position. Brown will report to Kurt Darrow, La-Z-Boy's chairman, president and CEO, and will spearhead strategic planning across the enterprise.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores has no plans to join Apple’s newly-announced mobile payments system, Apple Pay, which is due to launch in October.

Wal-Mart is supporting a retailer-owned mobile technology group, the Merchant Customer Exchange, which is launching its own mobile wallet application. The application, called CurrentC, is now in pilot and is expected to be rolled out nationwide in 2015, according to The Washington Post.  Best Buy is also among the retailers supporting CurrentC.
   

New York -- Fitch Ratings on Friday downgraded RadioShack's credit rating. On Thursday, the struggling retailer warned it may need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Fitch cut RadioShack's issuer default rating from "C'' from "CC," which puts the chain’s credit rating one level above default.

San Francisco – EBay Inc. reportedly plans to begin running advertisements within its mobile app during fourth quarter 2014. According to Reuters, the Geico insurance company will be one of the first advertisers.

Atlanta - Overall retail spending growth in August 2014 was the strongest in more than a year. According to the First Data SpendTrend report, retail dollar volume growth reached 2.8% in August (compared to 2.6% in July), as back-to-school shopping propelled spending growth in several retail categories. (SpendTrend tracks same-store point-of-sale data by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks from nearly 4 million merchants locations serviced by First Data in the United States.)

New York – Foot Locker Inc. is partnering with crowdsourced delivery service Deliv to offer shoppers on its Footlocker.com website the option to have their purchases delivered same-day. Leveraging Deliv's Application Programming Interface (API), which connects directly into the Footlocker.com website, shoppers can now select same-day or next day delivery for $5.

Washington, D.C. --  August retail sales – excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants – increased 0.5% seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 2.7% unadjusted year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation. When combined with revisions to July, August sales indicate a consistent improvement in consumer confidence and spending.

Bolingbrook, Ill. – Ulta Beauty on Friday posted second-quarter net income that jumped 35%, easily beating Wall Street's expectations. The company also raised its full-year outlook, and announced a five-year strategic plan that includes opening some 100 stores annually.

Ulta’s net income for the quarter ended Aug. 2 increased to $60.8 million, from $44.9 million a year earlier. Net sales increased 22.2% to $734.2 million from $601 million last year, also topping expectations.

By Gary Lee, CEO, InReality

Webrooming, showrooming ... I'm guilty of it all. Surprised? You shouldn't be. After all, it is all about me, the everywhere consumer, and my super power ... the power to choose. I can shop in-store, but I can also, just as easily, shop online; my only concern is that my needs and expectations are met.

There’s a new, farmers market-styled specialty grocer taking root in the Midwest: Fresh Thyme Farmers Market. With former Sunflower Farmers Market CEO Chris Sherrell at the helm, Fresh Thyme emphasizes organic foods and produce at value prices in a convenient neighborhood-store format. The company made its debut in April, in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, and went on to open six additional locations. A total of 60 stores are planned throughout the Midwest by 2019.