News

New York – Merger talks between J. Crew and Japanese retailer Fast Retailing Co. have reportedly ended, at least for the time being. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo chain, left the discussions not long after they were made public by the media in late February 2014.

Most American’s missed seeing amputee Evan Strong win gold at the Paralympics in Sochi as Russian aggression toward Crimea and the Ukraine overshadowed the games. However, Strong gains another type of notoriety this Spring when he becomes the first para-athlete to grace the front of a Wheaties box.

Waban, Mass. -- Chick-fil-A and Sonic Drive-In deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2014 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Cranston, R.I. – During the 2013 holiday season, Alex and Ani turned to EBay Enterprise, an EBay Inc. company, to help drive sales and achieve higher ROI through its Facebook ads. Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, the company’s Facebook ads drove $1.6 million

With technology continuing to reshape the store experience, global retail real estate leader Simon Property Group is upping its digital game with the creation of a new venture capital group.

The company, which owns or has an interest in 325 retail properties encompassing 243 million square feet, has created Simon Ventures Group for the purpose of investing in retail innovation focused on opportunities that enhance the shopping experience.

Supervalu reduced its organizational structure from three divisions to two and name Kevin Kemp president of the east region and Bill Chew president of the west region.

The company did not indicate what roles Kemp and Chew played in the organization previously, but did note that the east region will be headquartered in Mechanicsville, VA and the west region will be based in Hopkins, MN near the company’s Eden Prairie headquarters.

New York -- Net-A-Porter.com topped all competitors across all retail verticals for customer service in February, according to Stella Benchmarks. The retailer was particularly strong in fulfillment, besting all other retailers in both shipping and returns.

Net-A-Porter.com provided a pre-paid, adhesive return label in all orders handled by StellaService analysts. In addition, Net-A-Porter.com issued refunds in less than a week on average.

Guess? may be a global brand, but worldwide diversification wasn’t enough to help the company avoid a fourth quarter sales decline and weakness at North American retail locations.

Unlike other retailers, Guess? made no mention of horrible winter weather when it reported a decline in fourth quarter sales and profits that were especially evident in North America.