News

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s announced that Lara Lee will join the company as SVP customer experience design, effective Feb 25. Lee will report to Robert J. (Bob) Gfeller, customer experience design executive.

Lee will be responsible for translating business strategies into integrated, multi-channel experiences that deliver value to home improvement consumers. Named a “Master of Innovation” by BusinessWeek in 2006, Lee has driven customer-centric business transformation for more than 20 years.

SEATTLE — Sears' online marketplace will be the subject of a webinar on Feb. 26 hosted by Mercent, a technology company that enables retailers to profitably reach and convert more shoppers online.

Titled "Selling on Sears.com - Your Access to more than 15 Million Loyal Shoppers," the webinar will discuss Sears.com's role as the third largest online marketplace and how its expanding its reach and visibility against Amazon.com, eBay and Google.

ATLANTA -- Newell Rubbermaid announced it will reaffirm its fiscal year 2013 outlook, as provided in its fourth quarter 2012 earnings press release dated Feb.1, 2013, during its presentation Thursday at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York (CAGNY) conference.

The company’s guidance and key assumptions for the full year 2013 are as follows:

• Core sales increase of 2% to 4%.

• Net sales are expected to grow 1% to 3%

MALIBU, Calif. — Toy maker Jakks Pacific reported that net sales for the fourth quarter of 2012 were $133.5 million, compared with $141.1 million reported in the comparable period in 2011.

The reported net loss for the fourth quarter was $119.5 million, or $5.45 per diluted share. This compares with a net loss of $20 million, or 77 cents per diluted share.

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Managing and classifying enterprise data is the number one security and privacy area in need of improvement, and remains a major challenge for IT departments, according to a survey about IT risk factors for 2013 published by global consulting firm Protiviti.

The 2013 IT Priorities Survey found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.

Walmart overcame a meager 1% same stores sales increase at U.S. stores to deliver better than expected fourth quarter profits on Thursday.

The company said total sales increased 3.9% to $127.1 billion compared to $122.3 billion last year. Without the benefit of a favorable currency exchange situation, sales would have increased a lesser 3.7% to $126.8 billion. Full year sales increased by 5% to $466.1 billion compared to last year’s total of $443.8.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Office Max's retail website, OfficeMax.com, was named a 2012 Best of the Web award winner. The fourth annual Best of the Web Compuware Application Performance Awards showcase leaders in web and mobile site performance across several major industries nationwide.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Safeway Inc. said that its fourth-quarter net income rose 13% to $244 million, far ahead of expectations, helped by its customer loyalty program. Safeway said the program, which offers personalized discounts based on past purchases, is driving market share gains and profits.
 
Quarterly sales rose to $13.77 billion from $13.60 billion a year ago. Same-store sales, excluding fuel, inched up 0.8%.