News

Vancouver – Lululemon Athletica Inc. struck a pose of profitability in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income more than doubled to $47.8 million from $19 million a year earlier, aided by the elimination of a tax expense.

Net revenue increased 10% to $423.5 million, from $384.6 million. A 27% hike in direct-to-consumer net revenue, which now represents 20% of total company revenue, helped drive the overall improvement. Same-store sales dropped 1%.

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. is opening four new stores this month as the company moves forward with its plan to open as many as 750 stores by 2017.

The company will distribute free Reebok Play Dry T-Shirts to the first 100 people in queue on the opening day. Also, the early birds will get an opportunity to open the DICK'S Sporting Goods Gift Locker on all three days. Moreover, on Saturday and Sunday, the company plans to give away free Mystery Gift Cards worth $5–$500 to the first 100 adults in line. 

New York -- Bloomingdale’s chairman and CEO Tony Spring talked about one of the company’s top-selling products (frozen yogurt!) and much more on Tuesday at the Retail Marketing Society’s “Reinventing the Store” conference in New York.

Here are 10 take-away quotes from his presentation:

“Our Forty Carrots frozen yogurt is one of our best-selling items. We have customers who come into our store five times a week for it.”

Dollar General Corp. is looking to a longtime Dollar General employee to be its next executive vice president of store operations. 

Technology is supposed to make our lives simpler – both as consumers and as professionals. It is technology which is bridging the gap between the store and online, between supply and demand, between consumer expectations and retailer capabilities. However, delivering simple solutions is not always easy in today’s complex and rapidly changing business world.

Plus-size apparel retailer Torrid is launching a national quest to discover the new full-figured face for the brand.

Casting for the Face of Torrid 2016 kicked off this month at Torrid.com/modelsearch and will be followed this summer with live casting events in five major Torrid markets: Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

If you’ve been following any recent mobile developments, you know that beacons aren’t just the next big thing – they’re here, right now. Ever since Apple introduced their iBeacon technology, the buzz has been getting louder, and in the last few months, more and more brands and businesses have been experimenting with them.

Saks Off 5th helped its parent, Hudson’s Bay Co., increase same store sales in the first quarter, although the company did report a larger loss.

HBC reported that for the first quarter ended May 2, same store sales increased 2.7%. The company posted a loss of $44 million, compared with a profit of C$176 million, or 97 Canadian cents, a year earlier. Adjusted to exclude restructuring and other items, the loss was C$33 million, up from a comparable C$27 million loss a year earlier. Sales rose 11.7 percent to C$2.07 billion.