News

Target turned 50 this year, and chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel weighed in on the expect more, pay less (EMPL) value proposition, his 32-year career and miscellaneous other topics in a Q&A interview with the company’s online magazine known as “A Bullseye View.” To read a transcript of his comments click here.



 

Target’s annual shareholders’ meeting will be held June 9 in downtown Chicago at the location of a soon-to-open CityTarget store on State Street. The venue is an interesting choice that speaks volumes about the potential for the new urban format.

Retailers are in business to sell products customers want, except when they’re not, which appears to be the case with the retailer’s decision to stop selling Amazon.com’s hugely popular Kindle devices.

Target has done quite well for itself in California, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. Ironically, the state with the most extensive network of Target stores also happens to be the one identified as the worst state in which to do business, according to a recent survey.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM  announced a definitive agreement to acquire Tealeaf Technology, San Francisco, a provider of customer experience analytics software that helps organizations to gain intelligence and react more swiftly to consumer trends in today's digitally transformed marketplace. Financial details were not disclosed.

The acquisition is expected to close in second quarter 2012.

Houston -- After a thorough evaluation of major leading profitability systems, Cabela’s Inc. has selected Acorn Systems’ Performance Analyzer because of its expertise in profitability management and its ability to provide a flexible, scalable and elegant platform to drive true net SKU profitability analytics.

On Monday, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership in a new unnamed Barnes & Noble subsidiary that, for the time being, is being identified as Newco. Here some comments from retail consultant Maggie Gilliam (Gilliam Insights) on the new venture:

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark reported Wednesday that profit for the quarter ended March 31 rose 9% to $776 million, compared with $713 million in the year-ago period.

Revenues surged 20% to a record $30.8 billion boosted by rival Walgreen’s termination of its Express Scripts program, which moved Walgreen customers over to CVS. The results beat Wall Street’s expected $30.3 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Same-store sales climbed more than 8%.

Brampton, Ontario -- Canadian grocery chain Loblaw Cos. reported Wednesday that net income for the first quarter plummeted 22% to $128 million, compared with $156 million in the year-ago period. The country’s largest food retailer was squeezed by higher costs and heightened competition as Wal-Mart Stores continues its march into Loblaw territories.

Revenues for the quarter edged up .9% to $7.02 billion. Same-store sales dipped 0.7%.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Multichannel shopping retailer HSN Inc. reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 climbed 29% to $26.2 million, from $20.3 million in the year-ago period.

Results were boosted by robust sales from its Cornerstone unit, which includes banners such as Ballard Design, Frontgate and TravelSmith.

Revenue overall rose 5% to $747.3 million. Cornerstone saw an 11% sales rise to $205.4 million. HSN segment sales were up 3% to $541.9 million.