News

Minneapolis – Caribou Coffee has launched its new loyalty program, Caribou Perks. Customers can register by text or online.

Fremont, Calif. – The latest chapter in the continuing rivalry saga of The Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. has opened with Men’s Wearhouse making a hostile cash tender offer of $57.50 per share for Jos. A. Bank. The offer, which expires on March 28, 2014, is worth about $1.6 billion.

Last week, I looked back at 2013 and how the biggest single trend in retail IT was customers using connective technology to take control of the shopping experience. This week, I look forward to the new year of 2014, when the biggest single trend in retail IT will be customer disruption.

Overstock.com is starting 2014 with plans to appeal the tentative ruling of a California trial court prohibiting it from comparison price advertising unless done in conformity with new court-mandated practices which, according to the online retailer, diverge widely from industry standards.

Spindle, a leading provider of mobile commerce solutions, has acquired Los Angeles-based Yowza!!, a leading provider of mobile couponing technology. As a result of the transaction, Spindle will integrate its MeNetwork mobile marketing services with the Yowza!! mobile couponing solution to deliver an end-to-end mobile commerce service.

The new mobile commerce offering will have an existing user base of nearly 2 million consumer downloads, and approximately 95,000 merchant locations.

Generic drug introductions at Walgreens had a negative impact on total comparable sales, but the company still reported net sales of $7.2 billion, an increase of 7.2%, and a comparable-store sales increase of 6.1% in December.

Calendar day shifts positively impacted total comparable sales by 170 basis points, while generic drug introductions in the last 12 months negatively impacted total comparable sales by 70 basis points. December 2013 had one additional Tuesday and one fewer Saturday compared with December 2012.

Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice has revamped its lineup of men’s body sprays with new, first-in-category Re-fresh Technology, which promises to eliminate the need for guys to overspray or reapply throughout the day.

Hhgregg cited poor performance in the consumer electronics and wireless categories for preliminary third quarter results which came in below its expectations. Hhgregg now expects its full fiscal year performance to miss previously stated guidance.

For the third fiscal quarter of 2014, Hhgregg estimates net sales to be approximately $707.1 million, a decrease of approximately 11.6% as compared to net sales of $799.6 million reported for the third fiscal quarter of 2013.

H&M is getting ready to take its latest ad campaign featuring David Beckham’s Bodywear collection to the Super Bowl. To mark the commercial, David Beckham will also make his first ever appearance at the new H&M Times Square store.

Zappos is reportedly instituting a radical overhaul of its management structure that will eliminate traditional managers and flatten the corporate hierarchy, even eliminating internal job titles. According to the Washington Post, this management structure is known as a “holacracy.”