News

NEW YORK — Walmart confirmed in an op-ed in the Washington Post that if the D.C. Council passes a bill setting a higher minimum wage for large retailers, it will pull the plug on three planned stores in the Washington, D.C., area. 

Business and friendship are generally considered incompatible. It’s hard to take the dispassionate, profits-first mindset that traditionally governs business transactions with a person you think of as a friend. However, in this burgeoning age of social media and social commerce, retailers need to make friends with their customers to maximize engagement, loyalty and profits.

Toronto -- A "Sears Hometown" store owner in Woodstock, Ontario (Canada), has launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of approximately 260 Sears Hometown dealers across Canada against Sears Canada and its American affiliate, Sears. Both are subsidiaries of Sears Holding Corp.

The lawsuit alleges that Sears lowered dealers' commissions, reduced advertising for local stores and bypassed the franchises by selling directly to customers who are located within their markets.

New York -- Jones Group Inc. has tapped Citigroup Inc. to explore a possible sale, according to Reuters.
 
In April, Jones Group said that it would close 170 stores and cut 8% of its workforce after first-quarter profit was less than analysts’ estimates. The news comes just months after activist hedge fund

The company, whose brands include Stuart Weitzman, Jones New York, Easy Spirit, and Nine West, had a market value of about $1.2 billion as of July 5.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. said Friday that a group of stockholders will plan to sell up to 10 million shares of the company.

The company registered an offering of up to 10 million shares worth as much as $753.2 million. It did not specify who will sell the shares or when the offering is expected to close.

Restoration Hardware's biggest shareholders are the private equity firms Catterton Partners and Tower Three Partners, followed by Glenhill Capital.
 

New York -- Supply Chain Optimization, a special online report by Chain Store Age, looks at how changing demand, multiple channels and increased consumer expectations are redefining the retail landscape and putting increased emphasis on supply chain infrastructures.

Learn how to gain a competitive advantage by having a more efficient, flexible and, responsive supply chain.

Download the report.

By Nathan Needel, PRD International

For years, surveillance systems have recorded thefts and other incidences, including those at POS location, for future investigation. Now, video can be used to stop incidences as they happen. To do this, users need to quit thinking of surveillance systems as simply repositories of what’s been seen and recorded and, instead, think of cameras as sensors in a system. Why should you have to search through recordings to locate the incident when, if fact, they can stop it as it happens?

Sydney, Australia -- Island Pacific has announced the deployment of its point-of-sale technology in Topshop’s Sydney and Melbourne stores.

Island Pacific’s software solutions are being used by the British fashion retailer to standardize its IT solutions. As a new business venture in Australia, Topshop wanted the day-to-day business of its retail divisions to be streamlined with receipting, sales and reporting functionality.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Global e-commerce sales are expected to rise 17.5% this year to $963 billion, up from $820.5 billion last year, according to a study by Siemer & Associates.

Currently, online accounts for just 6.5% of all retail sales worldwide but is growing four times faster than traditional retail. E-commerce sales are expected to account for 9.3% of retail sales by 2016.

Department store executive and Target co-founder Douglas Dayton died Saturday of cancer at 88.

Dayton was the inspiration for the first Target stores and oversaw the development and early growth of the concept of an upscale discount store. Dayton served as Target's first president in 1961 and a year later he opened the first Target stores in the Twin Cities communities of Roseville, Crystal, St. Louis Park and Knollwood.