News

With a new year come new challenges and opportunities. As consumer patterns continue to evolve, so must retailers and their supply chain operations, influenced by technological advancements and other external factors. Coming off a modestly successful holiday shopping season, retailers are geared up for 2014 and prepared to address what promise to be the top five challenges of 2014.

Omnichannel

New York – Barnes & Noble reported decreases in revenue for both its retail and Nook segments during the nine-week 2013 holiday season as compared to the same period in the prior year. The retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, had revenues of $1.1 billion, decreasing 6.6% from the prior year.

Just a couple of days after news that Barnes & Noble permanently closed its onetime flagship on Fifth Ave. in New York, the company reported a revenue decrease of 6.6% for the nine-week holiday period ending Dec. 28, 2013 in its retail segment.

The decrease over the prior year in the retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com, was fueled by a 5.5% decline in comparable sales and store closures. Core comparable bookstore sales, which exclude sales of Nook products, decreased 0.2% as compared to the prior year.

Union, N.J. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s third quarter net earnings rose to $237.2 million, less than Wall Street expected, from $232.8 million in the year-ago period, as higher costs and expenses impacted sales growth. The company trimmed its full-year earnings outlook.

Revenue for the three months ended Nov. 30 rose 6% to $2.87 billion, from $2.7 billion. Same-store sales increased 1.3%.

You’ve got to hand it to Amazon.com. While consistently turning a profit has eluded Amazon for the past 18 years, the company has consistently taken a lead in disrupting retail. Whether it’s inventing e-commerce as a mainstream B2C transactional channel, taking a leading role in hosted cloud services with Amazon Web Services or helping to usher in the tablet era with Kindle e-readers, Amazon.com has never been afraid to do things in a way that alters how retail business is conducted.

Women’s apparel retailer Cato has made its debut into the world of online shopping with the launch of its first ever e-commerce site. The announcement came as the retailer reported holiday sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 4.
 
Founded in 1946, Cato operates approximately 1,100 apparel and accessories specialty stores throughout the United States. With so many brick-and-mortar locations, the ability to supplement in-store inventory with an e-commerce strategy geared toward a new generation of connected shoppers became crucial for continued growth.

Issaquah, Wash. - Costco Wholesale Club’s same-store sales rose 3% in December, beating analysts' estimates of a 1.8% gain. The metric climbed 5% in the U.S. and inched up 1% overseas for the five weeks ended Jan. 5.

Total monthly revenue increased 6% to $11.53 billion.

For the 18-week period, same-store sales were up 3%. In the U.S. the metric rose 4% and 1% internationally.

Schnuck Markets chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck plans to transfer the latter title in March to his brother, president and COO Todd Schnuck.

Todd Schnuck will become president and CEO of the family-owned supermarket chain in March, while Scott Schnuck will remain chairman and assist in the transition through September. Meanwhile, Craig Schnuck will formally retire from the company and become chairman emeritus. Todd Schnuck originally began working at the company in 1987 as treasurer and served as corporate VP and CFO before becoming president and COO.