News

The search is on for a new president and COO at Family Dollar following the resignation of Michael Bloom amid deteriorating financial results and a 3% same store sales decline in December.

Pier 1 president and CEO Alex W. Smith expressed extreme disappointment over the company’s December sales results, which came in well below expectations despite having kicked off the holiday selling season with a record post-Thanksgiving weekend.

Just a couple of days after news that Barnes & Noble permanently closed its onetime flagship on Fifth Ave. in New York, the company reported a revenue decrease of 6.6% for the nine-week holiday period ending Dec. 28, 2013 in its retail segment.

The decrease over the prior year in the retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, was fueled by a 5.5% decline in comparable sales and store closures. Core comparable bookstore sales, which exclude sales of Nook products, decreased 0.2% as compared to the prior year.

Supervalu reported net earnings of $31 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, almost double the net earnings of $16 million reported in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. This dramatic increase came even as net sales slipped 1% to $4.1 billion from $4.5 billion.

Former shopper marketing executive turned Walmart SVP of creative Andy Murray will share his views on the retail industry’s evolving omnichannel landscape during a keynote presentation at the annual Shopper Marketing Summit.
 

With a new year come new challenges and opportunities. As consumer patterns continue to evolve, so must retailers and their supply chain operations, influenced by technological advancements and other external factors. Coming off a modestly successful holiday shopping season, retailers are geared up for 2014 and prepared to address what promise to be the top five challenges of 2014.

Omnichannel

David Glass has kept such a low public profile since stepping down as Walmart president and CEO it was surprising to see his name pop up as the featured speaker at an upcoming event in Northwest Arkansas.

Glass stepped down as CEO of Walmart nearly 15 years ago and he’s scarcely been heard from since, leaving those newer to the company to know him largely as the guy after whom the company’s massive information technology building is named.

Walmart COO Gisel Ruiz and president of health and wellness John Agwunobi are listed as speakers at events taking place within the next 30 days in Northwest Arkansas.

Former Sam’s Club merchant Jason Reiser just got his second promotion in seven months at Family Dollar and now the newly anointed chief merchandising officer has to restore sales growth at the retailer’s 8,000 stores.

L’Oréal Paris has tapped celebrity hairstylist Mara Roszak to lend her expertise for product development, content creation, consumer education and creating trendsetting hairstyles for L’Oréal Paris spokespeople.

Her Hollywood client list includes Emma Stone, Lily Collins, Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana and Kat Dennings.