News

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Best Buy, Sears and Target ranked as the top three cross-channel performers in a study by CrossView, a provider of cross-channel commerce solutions. The study, which examined the cross-channel capabilities of 25 top retailers, found that a majority of retailers are providing an unsatisfactory cross-channel experience. 

Highlights of the study, which is due to be released Aug. 30, include:

• Only 12% of studied retailers could access a customer’s pending web order in store;

When Washington, D.C.-based Madison Marquette took over the leasing and management duties for Granite Run Mall, located in Media, Pa., near Philadelphia, it launched an innovative program for soliciting shopper feedback.

By Liana Hill, [email protected]

Birmingham, Ala. -- Books-A-Million on Tuesday reported a second-quarter loss of $2.9 million, compared with a net income of $1.9 million in the year-ago period. The chain faulted lower sales as consumers move away from traditional books and pressure from the liquidation sales Borders Group is conducting.

Revenue fell 11.4% to $106.4 million from $120 million last year. Same-store sales fell 12.9%.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Winn-Dixie Stores is implementing IBM point-of-sale and self-checkout technology to transform and enhance customer service, speed innovation and increase operational efficiency. The new technology is expected to improve customer service, speed the checkout process, simplify store operations, and enhance store team member productivity at Winn-Dixie’s 484 stores across the Southeastern United States.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark said its board has approved a $4 billion stock repurchase program and that it intends to complete an earlier $2 billion program before the end of this year.

Under the new authorization, the retailer said it expects to repurchase about $1 billion in shares by the end of the year.
 

Pittsburgh -- American Eagle Outfitters' second-quarter net income more than doubled to $19.7 million from $9.7 million in the year-ago period. The teen retailer credited the jump on increased revenue, growing online sales and fewer markdowns.

Revenue for the period ended July 30 rose 4 percent to $675.7 million from $651.5 million, surpassing Wall Street's $652 million estimate. Same-store sales were flat compared with a 1% decline in the prior-year period.

Just launch the new site already. Target executives keep talking about how much better its new website will be now that e-commerce efforts have been brought in house, so it sure would be nice to see what all the excitement is about. Not sure when that will happen, but EVP merchandising Kathy Tesija contends it is going to be a lot better.

Talk about visibility. Target went way beyond the norm in the retail industry earlier this year when it said that within six or seven years sales would reach $100 billion and earnings per share would double to at least $8. Expressing such a long term outlook is not without considerable risk, chief among them is the rapid pace of change in the retail industry and the fact that the competitive landscape and the factors influencing consumer demand could look very different within six or seven years.

It would appear the year is playing out much as Target’s senior executives envisioned many months ago when guidance was provided regarding how the retailer’s sales performance was likely to unfold. As expected, the second quarter same-store sales increase of 3.9% was an acceleration of the 2% gain reported during the first quarter, and now further improvement is anticipated during the third and fourth quarter judging from upwardly revised profit targets shared with investors.