News

Roanoke, Va. -- Advance Auto Parts beat Wall Street projections with a 19% profit increase in the second quarter – from $116.9 million last year to $139.5 million.

The acquisition of General Parts drove sales up 52%, to $2.35 billion, from $1.55 billion in the same quarter last year. Wall Street anticipated $2.32 billion.

"We remain on pace against our base business expectations, integration milestones and with our financial performance,” said Advance CEO Darren Jackson.

Westborough, Mass. -- BJ's Wholesale Club announced partnerships with 215 schools through the organization's Adopt-A-School program. At the beginning of each school year, every BJ's Wholesale Club and Distribution Center partners with a local school to help enhance existing curriculum.

Schools participating in BJ's Adopt-A-School Program receive a one-time, $500 donation, which goes toward discretionary programs, such as field trips and special events, reading programs or other educational needs. The schools also receive a complimentary BJ's Membership.

Princeton, N.J. – Almost one-in-three (31%) of U.S. consumers say wanting to see/feel items in person would make them shop at a physical store instead of online. According to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted by digital agency Ripen E-commerce, almost as many (29.9%) wanting to buy an item immediately would spur them to make an in-person purchase.

Other responses include:

• 16.9% believe it protects their privacy
• 14.4% shop in-store to save on shipping costs

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Kohl’s Corp. had a relatively flat second quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to the same period the previous year. Net income slightly rose to $232 million from $231 million, while sales fell 1% to $4.24 billion from $4.28 billion.

Same-store sales dropped 1.1%, although Kohl’s said they turned positive in July. Kohl’s plans to open four new stores in fall 2014, including one store which was temporarily closed in the first quarter for a complete re-build.

Oak Brook, Ill. – Net income at Ace Hardware Corp. rose 57% to $66.5 million, from $24.2 million. Revenues climbed 13% to $1.33 billion, from $1.17 billion.

Dallas – Net loss at specialty jewelry retailer DSGE Inc. roughly tripled to $4.45 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from $1.12 million in the same period a year earlier. Writeoffs related to the closure of DSGE’s Southern Bullion banner drove the net loss increase.

Bentonville, Ark. – Consolidated net income at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew 0.6% to $4.1 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from $4.07 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, with factors including incremental e-commerce investments and healthcare costs dampening profit growth. Wal-Mart cut its profit forecast for the full year as a result.

Overall second quarter performance at Wal-Mart was sluggish. Net sales rose 3% to $119.3 billion from $116.1 billion. Currency exchange rate fluctuations negatively impacted net sales performance.

Los Angeles – Fatburger is piloting CurbStand, the iOS app that allows users to seamlessly locate, pay and tip for valet parking from their mobile devices. For a limited time, customers at the Fatburger West Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles locations can use the free CurbStand app, with plans for additional locations in the future.

Singapore -- Two retail chains in Singapore, Cold Storage and Guardian, have selected the Pricer ESL (electronic shelf label) solution in their stores and the rollout is planned to be completed by the end of 2015. The two chains are under the umbrella of The Dairy Farm Group.

Cold Storage operates about 50 large supermarkets in Singapore while Guardian operates 150 pharmacy stores.

By Dave Donnelly, Executive Director of Retail Sales, Eyeview