News

Walmart Supercenters in California benefit communities by supporting additional job creation, small business growth and more robust sales tax revenues, according to a new economic impact report.

The study was conducted by economist Lon Hatamiya of the Hatamiya Group and the results were announced by Walmart, which is sure to cause opponents of the company to question the validity of the results. That said, key findings of the study show the following:

Philadelphia – Destination Maternity reported improved net income but lower net sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 as compared to the same period a year earlier. Net income totaled $4.25 million, up 11% from $3.84 million the same period a year earlier.

Las Vegas – The new MicroStrategy Analytics app for iPad allows users to get an optimized mobile view of their organizations’ analytical insights, while the MicroStrategy Analytics app enables users to connect to their analytics applications, and securely browse through project folders of grids, graphs, visual insights, visualizations and dashboards.

Welch's Fruit Snacks have launched Welch's PB&J Snacks, which combines peanut butter and jelly in one treat.

The bite-size snacks have a chewy center made with real fruit, which is surrounded by a peanut butter coating, according to the company. Snackers can choose from four varieties: Concord Grape or Strawberry center and creamy or crunch peanut butter outside.

Amsterdam, Netherlands -- Mobile payments accounted for 19.5% of all transactions worldwide in December 2013, a growth of 55% year-over-year, up from 12.6% the previous December. The third Adyen Mobile Payments Index, covering the period September to December 2013, also shows that mobile transaction volume in retail has risen by a third, up to 23%.

Sears Canada, which laid off more than 1,300 employees on Jan. 15, is cutting an additional 624 jobs. The retailer said it is modifying its store structure to improve efficiency and increase the effectiveness of the chain of communication between management and the store associate teams within the stores.

Montreal, Quebec – LightSpeed has unveiled LightSpeed Web Store for Cloud, giving retailers a single web-based system for managing sales, inventory and customers both in-store and online. The inventory-centric solution empowers brick-and-mortar retailers to manage their business across all channels, from any device.

Tractor Supply Co., the nation’s largest farm-and-ranch retailer, reported big gains in sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and full year.

The company reported nets sales of $1.42 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1.29 billion in the same quarter last year. Comparable-store sales increased 3.5%.

Net income for the quarter was $95.9 million, up from $79.5 million in the same quarter last year.