All North America articles – Page 25
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NewsClinton Cards owner American Greetings taken private by founding family
Clinton Cards parent company American Greetings has been taken private by its founding and controlling family in a deal estimated at $878m.
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NewsGrocer Tesco poised to exit US as Fresh & Easy sale nears completion
Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke is poised to sell its US Fresh & Easy business just four months after putting the loss-making chain under review.
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Sales rise at off-price retailer Ross Stores
Off-price retailer Ross Stores’ sales in the fourth quarter ended February 2 rose 15% to $2.76bn (£1.81bn) and like-for-likes advanced 5%. Net earnings rocketed 23% to $236.6m (£155.7m).For the full year, sales increased 13% to $9.72bn (£6.39bn) with like-for-likes climbing 6%, while net earnings soared 20% to $786.8m (£517.8m). Michael ...
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Stong performance for homewares retailer Williams-Sonoma
Homewares retailer Williams-Sonoma’s net revenues increased 8.7% to $4.04bn (£2.66bn) in the year ended February 3. Performance was driven by a 14.5% increase in direct-to-customer revenues and like-for-like growth of 6.1%.Net earnings rose 8.4% to $256.7m (£168.9m).
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Walmart to develop global ecommerce platform
Walmart is developing a global ecommerce platform called Pangea. Speaking to investors at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Consumer & Retail Conference, Walmart chief financial officer Charles Holley said: “We want to have a common global platform that can flex to the market.”The US retail giant also aims to ...
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Supervalu completes sale to AB Acquisition
Supervalu has completed the sale of its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market banners.The disposal to AB Acquisition, an affiliate of an investment consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management, is a stock deal valued at $3.3bn (£2.17bn), which includes $100m (£65.8m) in cash and $3.2bn (£2.1bn) in debt assumption.
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EBay's new courier service attracts major US retailers
eBay’s new courier service, eBay Now has attracted major US retailers such as Target, Best Buy, Walgreens and Macy’s, reported Mashable.The service launched in October last year and is now available in San Francisco, New York and San Jose. The service allows shoppers to order items for same-day delivery throughout ...
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AnalysisOracle Retail Week Awards: Sir Philip Green – taking retail to new levels
Sir Philip Green, winner of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Retail award, talks about building his empire, US success and doing his bit for the industry.
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Walmart launches online product range
Walmart has launched an online range of products from small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women on its website, to support economic empowerment.More than 200 items, from jewellery and iPad cases to coffee beans and clothing, will be sold on the Empowering Women Together section of Walmart.com.The range comes from ...
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Best Buy to cut 400 jobs in cost saving initiative
Electronics retailer Best Buy is cutting 400 jobs at its Richfield, Minnesota headquarters in an effort to save $150m (£99.6m).Store assistants will not be included in the restructuring and no store closures are planned.However, additional cost-reduction initiatives are likely to follow over the rest of the year.Separately, the retailer has ...
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Department store Macy's reports solid performance for 2012
Department store group Macy’s reported a solid performance in 2012 on the back of strong online growth.For the full year, sales reached $27.69bn (£18.38bn), an increase of 4.9% on the previous year. Like-for-like sales, which strip out an extra week in fiscal 2012, increased 3.7%, beating company guidance.Online sales from ...
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Walmart records solid trading for fourth quarter
Walmart recorded solid trading in its fourth quarter. In the 13 weeks to January 25 group net sales increased by 3.9% to $127.1bn (£84.13bn). Group income from continuing operations rose 7.9% to $5.6bn (£3.71bn).Much of the growth was driven by overseas operations. Walmart International reported a 6.9% increase in fourth-quarter ...
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AnalysisInternational analysis: Office Depot snaps up rival to take on Staples
Office Depot has acquired smaller rival OfficeMax in a $1.2bn (£794m) all-stock deal. The newly formed business remains behind market leader Staples.
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Walmart has 'worst sales start to a month in seven years'
Walmart has reportedly had the worst sales start to a month in seven years, according to a leaked internal email obtained by Bloomberg.The email, from the company’s vice-president of finance and logistics Jerry Murray, reported that month-to-date sales were “a total disaster”.Possible reasons for the poor performance from the retailer ...
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Sales increase at organic grocer Whole Foods Market
Sales at organic grocer Whole Foods Market in the first quarter were up 14% to $3.9bn (£2.5bn), and like-for-like sales rose 7.2%.EBITDA rose 19% to $337m (£217.8m) and net income advanced 24% to $146m (£94.4m).Co-chief executive officer Walter Robb said that a record 10 stores opened during the quarter, and ...
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Walmart begins testing self-scanning technology
Walmart has begun testing self-scanning using shoppers’ smartphones at 40 stores in Denver, Colorado.Customers can download the Scan & Go app to their phones, and then scan products in-store. Once their shop is complete, they select ‘done shopping’ on the app. A QR code is created and shoppers are prompted ...
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AnalysisInternational analysis: Gap’s focus on product brings back US shoppers
Gap’s US turnaround continues its upward trajectory. Gap reported net sales for the year ending February 2 reached $15.65bn (£9.7bn), compared with $14.55bn (£9bn) for full-year 2011.
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JC Penney to reinstate promotions strategy
JC Penney is to reinstate promotions in a reversal of its year-old strategy of everyday low prices. The shift comes amid declining sales and a shopper backlash against chief executive Ron Johnson’s decision to abandon the hundreds of discounts, coupons and Sales a year the retailer was known for.The retailer ...
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GalleryStore of the week: Sportswear retailer, Nike AF1 SoHo, New York
First there were sports shoe shops. Then there were running shoe shops. Now there are shops dedicated to a single sports shoe - well, almost. Welcome Nike’s AF1 store, New York.
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Apple loses market value after weak Christmas
Apple lost more than $50bn (£31.8bn) of its market value last week after shares slumped 12% because of weaker-than-expected iPhone sales at Christmas, reinforcing fears that the retailer and technology giant is losing its dominance in smartphones.Apple posted first-quarter group revenue of $54.5bn (£34.66bn), compared with $46.3bn (£29.44bn) in the ...