News

L Brands is showing that it continues to be a bright spot in a volatile specialty retail environment with its latest quarterly results.

The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $3.50 to $3.70 a share, from its previous forecast for $3.45 to $3.65. The retailer reported profit of $250.5 million, or 84 cents a share, in the three months ended May 2, up from $157 million, or 53 cents a share, in the prior year period. Sales rose 5% to $2.5 billion.

Jacksonville, Fla. – Earnings dipped at Stein Mart Inc. during the first quarter of fiscal 2015, even as net sales improved. Net income fell 3% to $13.6 million from $14.1 million a year earlier, with higher loan interest expense a major contributor.

Net sales increased 7% to $353.5 million, from $328.9 million. Same-store sales rose 4.8%. Higher store traffic and e-commerce sales boosted same-store sales results.

One of Macy’s most glittering promotional events will be back this Fourth of July, and it will be bigger and bolder than ever.

Macy’s and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week that Macy’s will once again sponsor the nation’s largest Independence Day pyrotechnic display. This year Macy's is expanding the event to two locations. The show will begin at approximately 9:20 p.m. and dazzle the shorelines of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Seattle - Amazon.com is offering one-hour delivery of products from select local stores in Manhattan through its Prime Now service. In Manhattan, customers can now purchase groceries, prepared meals and baked goods from D’Agostino, Gourmet Garage and Billy’s Bakery through the Prime Now app.

San Francisco - Customers who choose live chat for customer service are satisfied a higher percentage of the time than those who call, email, or use social media channels. According to findings of the quarterly Zendesk Benchmark report, customers using live chat for customer service are satisfied 92% of the time.

The average benchmark for live chat across all geographies and industries is 62 chat conversations a month; first response time of one minute 36 seconds on average; and customer satisfaction of 92%.

Retailers in urban areas where Amazon.com is rolling out its Prime Now delivery service soon may be able to piggyback on the e-commerce innovator’s supply chain prowess to offer one-hour delivery.

In Manhattan, where Amazon.com launched Prime Now earlier this year, the company has added products from select local merchants to the tens of thousands of items it already promises to deliver within one hour.

Kearney, Neb. – The Buckle Inc. fell short of Wall Street expectations for profit in a generally disappointing first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Net income fell 10% to $33.6 million from $37.3 million, with higher cost of sales and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses cutting into profitability.

Net sales slightly declined to $271.34 million from $271.67 million.

Same-store sales dropped 2.2%. In one bright spot, online sales increased 12.9%.
 

Dollars Tree’s first quarter sales were less than expected, it is divesting more of the acquired Family Dollar stores than expected and closing the merger is taking longer than expected.