News

By Keri Dawson, VP, Industry Solutions and Advisory Services, MetricStream, [email protected]

As 2013 comes to an end, the retail/CPG industry is bracing itself for even greater compliance requirements, increased regulatory scrutiny, and more risks resulting from social media, global operations, and multi-tiered supply chains.

Central Garden & Pet Company CEO John Ranelli offered a contrite response regarding the company's lack of sufficient progress in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2013.

Waltham, Mass. – Personalization software company True Fit has become a Demandware Link Technology Partner. Through the Link Technology Partner Program, True Fit has developed a pre-built integration between its fit technology platform and Demandware Commerce.

Austin, Texas – Nine-in-10 (87%) holiday shoppers surveyed still have presents to buy. Recent surveys by RetailMeNot and The Omnibus Company found that nearly 200 million Americans have not completed their holiday shopping.

Nearly nine-in-10 (88%) winter holiday shoppers surveyed said they have had to buy gifts in the 11th hour. Parents seem to be the biggest procrastinators, as nearly all (95%) parents surveyed admitted to waiting until the last minute to buy holiday gifts.

Increased traffic at Costco helped fueled sales in the first quarter of 2014.

We are all susceptible to media hype, and to established narratives, so it’s easy to miss important details in the growing chaos and chatter that surrounds Black Friday each year. We see big crowds and big bargains and a holiday shopping event that used to be a day now morphing into a brick-and-mortar and online extravaganza that lasts more than a week. That said, we should be asking what is really going on behind the scenes — and behind the numbers — and what does that mean for retailers for the rest of the holiday shopping season?

Burlington Stores credited performance at new stores for driving net sales during the third quarter.

The company’s net sales increased 10% to $1.06 billion, from $967.9 million. The increased was fueled primarily by a $53.2 million increase in sales related to new stores and stores previously opened that are not included in same-store sales, as well as a 3.9% increase in same-store sales.

The company also shrank its net loss to $7.4 million from $16.8 million during the quarter, compared to the prior-year quarter.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal announced a partnership with AwesomenessTV on reality series, "The Intern." AwesomenessTV, one of the most subscribed to video destinations for teens on YouTube, debuted the series on Nov. 25 and will air four weekly installments throughout the month of December.