News

Washington, D.C. -- The House has passed legislation broadening a federal tax law that makes it cheaper for retailers to remodel their stores, the National Retail Federation said.

Lawmakers voted 258-160 today to make “bonus depreciation” permanent, and granted NRF’s request that it be expanded to include stores that are owned rather than just those that are leased. The measure now heads to the Senate.

New York -- Sycamore Partners is in early discussion with Fred’s about a potential takeover, Reuters reported.

In January, Fred's disclosed it had hired Bank of America Corp. and Peter J. Solomon Co to explore strategic alternatives after disappointing holiday sales.

According to the report, at least one other party in also in talks with Fred's.

Mountain View, Calif. – Customer experience testing provider UserTesting is launching its free service Peek out of beta. Peek allows anyone to receive free five-minute videos of real people using their website, mobile site, or mobile app.

In roughly four months in beta, Peek achieved 40,000-plus user tests delivered, almost two years’ worth of videos watched, 202,000-plus video views, and more than 8,000 social postings and shares. Retailers including Staples and Wal-Mart have used Peek.

Paris -- The focus of c-suite and senior executive attention has shifted from economic uncertainty to data, technology and the supply chain, according to the Global Top of Mind Survey from KPMG International and the Consumer Goods Forum. Over half (54%) of respondents cited digital strategy for mobile/digital platforms as top of mind for their business during the next 12 months.

Los Angeles – New York-based investment firm Standard General, which owns a roughly 44% stake in troubled apparel retailer American Apparel Inc, is reportedly preparing recovery plans that both include and do not include controversial former CEO and founder Dov Charney. According to Reuters, Standard General is leaving the decision of whether to allow Charney to return to the company up to the American Apparel board, following a third-party investigation by FTI Consulting.

Cleveland – Higher pretax income and gross profit helped push net income at The Sherwin-Williams Company up 13% in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 to $291 million, from $257 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales rose 12% to $3.04 billion from $2.7 billion, primarily due to higher paint sales volume in the paint stores group and acquisitions.

San Mateo, Calif. - NetSuite Inc. a provider of cloud-based financials, ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites is acquiring London-based Venda, a provider of e-commerce solutions for an undisclosed amount. NetSuite says its acquisition of Venda builds on the momentum of NetSuite SuiteCommerce globally and supports NetSuite’s business expansion into the European market.

Washington, D.C. - Families this summer will spend slightly more on back-to-school items than they did in 2013. According to NRF’s 2014 Back-to-School Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average family with children in grades K-12 will spend $669.28 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics, up 5% from $634.78 in 2013.

Montreal - In-store mobile device integration and e-commerce solutions, as well as inventory management and predictive analytics software, are the biggest technology priorities for independent brick-and-mortar retailers. According to the first annual Retail Tech Forecast of 640 independent retailers from commerce platform provider LightSpeed, the percentage of retailers deploying tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices for checking out shoppers (currently 17%) is expected to increase a whopping 170% in the coming years.