News

Second time the charm for Neiman Marcus?
New York -- The nation’s premier luxury department store company wants to return to the public arena.

Neiman Marcus Group has filed plans for an initial public offering — for the second time in two years — of $100 million (the sum is a placeholder that doesn’t necessarily reflect the final offering amount.) The company said it would trade under the ticker symbol NMG.
Boot Barn keeps kicking it up
Boot Barn says its integration of the Sheplers chain helped the company report is 23rd consecutive increase in quarterly same store sales.

Vitamin Shoppe profit tops Street; on track for 50 stores

North Bergen, N.J. -- Vitamin Shoppe Inc. had a tough quarter but its earnings still beat the Street.

The retailer on Wednesday reported second-quarter net income of $14.2 million, down from $16.9 million in the year-ago period, but still topping Wall Street expectations.

The company also said it plans 50 new stores in 2015.

Revenue increased 5.3% to $322.3 million in the period, short of analysts’ forecasts for $327.9 million.
Attention, Target shoppers: Beacons are here

Target has become one of the largest retailers to enhance the in-store shopping experience while simultaneously bridging its physical and online experiences with new technology.
Rewarding customers pays for National Coney Island dining chain

Roseville, Mich. – Developing customer rewards programs costs money, but when done correctly pays big dividends. The National Coney Island restaurant chain has successfully increased guest frequency and spend with its Paytronix-powered Coney Bucks rewards program.

An instant-wins promotion almost doubled new Coney Bucks registrations over the average previous months' registrations. National Coney Island replaced its coupon-based advertising program with the Coney Bucks rewards program, which is built on the Paytronix Rewards Platform.
Lumber Liquidators posts Q2 loss; may face formaldehyde action

Toano, Va. – Legal and regulatory costs, as well as costs related to payroll, severance and commissions, contributed to a surprise net loss during the second quarter of fiscal 2015 at Lumber Liquidators. The struggling retailer also informed financial regulators that it may face legal action stemming from the sale of Chinese hardwood flooring that allegedly contained excessive levels of formaldehyde.
Instacart, Deliv turn up the heat in delivery wars

The options for consumers who dread the store checkout lane are exploding now that fast growing Instacart is on a hiring spree and competitor Deliv says it will be expanding into more than 100 cities.
Target to rebrand its newer format stores

Minneapolis -- Target wants to keep things simple.

The retailer, which has been moving to simplify its operations, is now taking a similar approach to its store identity. Starting in October, Target will begin the process of rebranding all of its CityTarget and TargetExpress stores as “Target.”
Closing the Gap Between Online and the Store

Consumers don’t see “channels.” They are time-starved and information-rich, and use technology that they carry around in their pockets and purses to find the best solutions to their lifestyle needs.

The practice in retail of creating different brand experiences in different channels has gone beyond being an inconvenience to shoppers. It is the central challenge that retailers are grappling with today.
CVS Health on a roll as earnings rise

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Health is showing no signs of slowing down.

The company reported that its second-quarter net income rose 2.1% to $1.27 billion. Adjusted earnings came to $1.22 per share, beating Zacks Investment Research analyst consensus of $1.20 per share.

Net revenues rose 7.4% to $37.2 billion.