News

Office Depot and OfficeMax announced the completion of their merger late Tuesday and from the looks of third quarter results released the same day the deal should prove beneficial to both companies.

Office Depot said its third quarter same store sales declined 2%, while OfficeMax said its comps dropped 2.8% in the U.S. and 2.2% in Mexico.

The combined company will use the name Office Depot, Inc. and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP.

Houston – Men’s Wearhouse is building on an existing implementation of Manhattan Associates’ order management solution with Manhattan's order management and store inventory management solutions.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in October 2012 versus October 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. Although Home Depot and Lowe’s continued to see large year-over-year changes, these shifts have been consistent throughout the past few months: the new sizes and densities of circulars within the home improvement channel have solidified. Lowe’s now features lengthy circulars with few ads per page, while Home Depot typically runs shorter, denser circulars.

Los Angeles – A large number of shoppers do not appear to be setting aside any money for holiday spending this year, and four in 10 do not even intend to do any shopping for the upcoming holiday season.

According to recent GoBankingRates.com polls, more than 63% of respondents didn't allocate any savings toward holiday gift buying. In addition, more than 40% of respondents said they would not be buying holiday gifts this year at all.

Other findings include:

CVS, which posted a solid third quarter across its enterprise, is well-positioned to benefit from the rapidly changing healthcare environment. That was a key message that CVS president and CEO Larry Merlo had for analysts during the company’s third-quarter conference call.

St. Louis – Most Americans will spend the same or less on holiday shopping this year as they did last year. According to a recent survey by financial services firm Edward Jones, 37% say they plan to spend less on holiday shopping in 2013 than they spent in 2012.

New York -- Macy’s shoppers will be able to see it, scan it, shop it this holiday season with the chain’s upcoming integration of NantMobile’s iD visual recognition technology. The new Macy’s Star Gifts app, powered by iD, empowers mobile shoppers to leverage visual recognition technology to purchase items from Macy’s Star Gifts assortment while on the go. Whether they scan it from a catalog, magazine ad or even from an outdoor billboard, Macy’s will deliver mobile access to product information, gift-giving assistance and much more.

New York -- Patagonia has selected 7thonline, a New York-based omni-channel merchandise and assortment management solution provider to help the retailer better match production supply with dynamic market demand to drive greater customer satisfaction and increased profitability.