News

North Wilkesboro, N.C. – Despite discussions about the need for retailers to develop a “social media strategy,” the reality is that social media is not a monolithic entity. Different social media platforms reach different types of consumers, are used for different purposes and draw traffic at different times of the day. Thus, a social media strategy really needs to be a collection of smaller strategies that are built around the dynamics of each individual platform a retailer chooses to leverage.

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had an overall successful first quarter of fiscal 2013 despite some sluggish performance at its Lord & Taylor banner.

The company reported gross profit of $356 million for the quarter ended May 4, up 4% from $341 million a year earlier. Retail sales also grew 4%, from $848 million to $884 million. Consolidated same-store sales increased 4% as well.

Chicago -- Omnichannel specialty apparel retailer Threadless takes an active approach to Twitter marketing that has resulted in significant lifts in site traffic and customer engagement. At the recent Internet Retailer conference in Chicago, representatives from Threadless and Twitter discussed how retailers can get more from their Twitter campaigns.

“Every tweet was a call to action,” said Threadless Marketing Director Todd Lido. “We were seeing growth but it felt like the strategy was getting stale.”

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens will pay $80 million as part of a settlement with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) over a failure to report unusually large shipments of prescription painkillers from a distribution center in Jupiter, Fla. Six Walgreens pharmacies in Florida received tens of thousands of orders for regulated painkillers that were up three times the normal size, but the distribution center did not report them to the DEA as they were required to by law.

TORONTO — A same-store sales decline at Lord & Taylor was not enough to keep Hudson's Bay Company's first quarter results for the period ended May 4 in the cold, thanks to strong same-store sales growth at Hudson's Bay.

The company's retail sales were $884 million for quarter, a 4% increase from $848 million for the first quarter a year ago. Consolidated same-store sales grew 4% in the first quarter. Hudson's Bay same-store sales grew nearly 8%, and were partially offset by a same-store sales decline of 1.4% at Lord & Taylor.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Shopko plans to open five new Shopko Hometown stores in Afton, Wyo., St. Peter, Minn., and Winneconne, Ellsworth and Tomahawk, Wis., in late fall.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ray Cook Golf, a leading golf manufacturer, has appointed John Holst as director of sales. In this role, Holst will oversee sales strategy and partner programs while building the Ray Cook brand.

He will also be charged with building the company's other brands, including Solus Golf, under parent company TGIB Marketing Inc.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer is opening two 190,000-sq.-ft. supercenters in Portage and Warsaw, in northern Indiana, creating more than 500 new jobs.

The family-owned retailer, which already has 32 stores throughout Indiana, built the new locations to LEED standards. The two supercenters are the latest in a $200 million investment this year that includes the construction of six new Meijer supercenters, extensive remodel projects for five additional stores in Michigan and Illinois and major upgrades to two distribution complexes.

MIAMI — PureFormulas, a growing e-retailer that offers natural health supplements, has appointed William Perez as its CIO. Perez is a 17-year veteran in the technology world with 13 years of experience in the Internet operation space.

“We’re excited to welcome Willy to the team,” said CEO José Prendes. “He will be instrumental in our continued growth strategy and will help take our entire interactive operation and customer experience to the next level.”