News

SUFFERN, N.Y. — Lower-than-expected foot traffic driven in part by unseasonably cold weather was not enough to negatively impact Ascena Retail Group’s net sales for the third quarter ended April 27, which were bolstered by the recently acquired Lane Bryant and Catherines businesses.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Linens and ladies’ casual and career sportswear buoyed Stein Mart’s total sales for May. The company reported total sales of $107.3 million for the month, an increase of 3.6% from $103.6 million for May last year. 

Comparable store sales increased 8.2%.

Walmart U.S. chief merchandising and marketing officer Duncan Mac Naughton will have some explaining to do next week when he is scheduled to participate in the 33rd Annual William Blair Growth Stock Conference on Wednesday, June 12.

Store level execution, a topic near but not always so dear to the hearts of Walmart suppliers, will be the focus of a Doing Business in Bentonville event scheduled for next Wednesday.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco reported net sales of $8.1 billion for May 2013, an increase of 7% from $7.6 billion during the same period last year.

For the 39-week period ended June 2, the company reported net sales of $77 billion, an increase of 8% from $71 billion during the same period last year.

The company’s same-store sales rose 5% in May, but they were lower than anticipated because of the negative impact of changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rates.

DALLAS — AT&T and IBM teamed up to deliver an e-commerce solution that retailers can use to provide their customers with a consistent shopping experience whether they are shopping online, via a mobile app or in stores.

The new service, expected to be available this year, combines AT&T’s cloud, application management and network services with e-commerce software from IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative in a single, subscription-based package designed for retailers.

A lot of buzz this week about Amazon expanding a long-running grocery delivery program in its hometown of Seattle to the Los Angeles area and what it might mean for food retailers. The answer for now is, not much.

Stanley Black & Decker is trying a new logo on for size. Although it's still yellow and black and still spells "Stanley," it represents a new brand identity for the iconic tool brand and diverse industrial company. 

CardinalCommerce and Unbound Commerce have rolled out a cloud wallet service for online merchants. The cloud wallet service from Unbound Commerce scheduled for release in July leverages Universal Wallet APITM from Cardinal to offer a single point connection to several leading digital wallets. 

LENEXA, Kan. — A little more than two weeks after bringing in former Safeway executive Steve Rempel as its new president and CEO, Balance Innovations has named Jay Atkinson its EVP of business development. 

In this role, Atkinson will be responsible for managing the national sales team, as well as the development and execution of the company's sales strategy.