All North America articles – Page 34
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News
SuperValu reveals plans to cut its nationwide workforce
Grocery retailer SuperValu has revealed plans to cut its nationwide workforce by around 800. The majority of the redundancies will be made by the end of the company’s financial year on February 25. The decision is part of a strategy to remove permanent expenses from the business and reduce overall ...
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Amazon signs licensing agreement with Viacom
Amazon has signed a licensing agreement with Viacom that allows Amazon Prime members to stream television shows from a multitude of channels. The deal, which gives customers access to programmes from MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo, boosts Amazon’s online library by 15% to ...
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Staples to launch tablet-optimised transactional website
Office specialist Staples is to launch a tablet-optimised transactional website. Shoppers using a tablet device will be automatically routed to the site at T.staples.com. Its user interface has been designed to keep typing to a minimum in order to ensure that as much content is viewable on the screen at ...
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JC Penney unveils transformation strategy
JC Penney has unveiled a transformation strategy under which it will overhaul its pricing, merchandise and presentation.The department store group plans to update its entire store portfolio by 2015. Under the retailer’s new ‘Fair and Square’ pricing initiative tiered pricing consisting of ‘Everyday’ regular prices will be introduced, ‘Month-Long Values’ ...
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Netflix bounces back from difficult year
Netflix bounced back from the difficulties it faced last summer to report strong revenue growth and an increase in subscriptions for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011.During the period, the entertainment provider posted a 47% surge in revenue to $876m (£558m), although net income declined 13% to $41m (£26m). ...
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GalleryNew York store design: A year’s a long time in retail
There have been some dramatic changes in Manhattan’s retail landscape over the past 12 months and the visual merchandising bar has been raised yet again. John Ryan reports.
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News
Home Depot and eBay to extend PayPal trial
Home improvement retailer The Home Depot and eBay will extend their PayPal in-store payment trial service from five stores to 51 in the San Francisco area. Pilot customers can pay for items via their PayPal account at The Home Depot’s point-of-sale systems using either a PIN via their mobile phone ...
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Walmart announces key executive changes
Walmart said that Brian Cornell is stepping down as chief executive of Sam’s Club. Cornell cited personal reasons for the decision to leave. From February 1, he will be replaced by Rosalind Brewer who most recently served as president of the Walmart US east business unit. Walmart disclosed several other ...
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AnalysisNRF: Why technology matters to retail
2012 will be a key year for retailers, with spending constrained and structural changes hitting hard. Retailers at this year’s NRF conference showed they’re tackling the hurdles head on, finds Rebecca Thomson.
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Kroger launches fully-automated convenience store
Grocery retailer Kroger has launched a fully-automated convenience store on the campus of Ohio Northern University in Ada. The 9-ft tall unit, provided by Shop24 Global, offers about 200 standard convenience products such as drinks, snacks, refrigerated meals, cleaning supplies and over-the-counter medicines. The machine’s stocking and dispensing system can ...
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AnalysisUS discounters turn up the heat in grocery sector
Last week, US-based discount retailer Family Dollar posted a 7.6% increase in net sales to $2.1bn (£1.36bn) on the back of strong growth in the consumables category.
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News
Merger announced for Shopko and Pamida
Shopko and Pamida, both owned by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, are to merge. The retailers expect the deal to close in mid-February, and financial details have not been disclosed. With Shopko and Pamida’s annual revenues of $2bn (£1.29bn) and $1bn (£647.4m) respectively, the companies will operate nearly 350 ...
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NewsTesco to close 12 Fresh & Easy stores
Tesco is to temporarily close 12 of its Fresh & Easy stores in the US in the face of harsh of economic conditions.
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News
GNC to expand outside the US
Nutritional specialist GNC is to expand outside the US, with plans for more than 200 new international stores, chief executive Joe Fortunato told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The openings include new market entries in Russia, Brazil and the EU.GNC, which already operates about 2,500 international stores, also plans 160 new stores ...
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News
Lowe’s acquires online retailer ATG Stores
Home improvement retailer Lowe’s has acquired ATG Stores, an online retailer of home enhancement and lifestyle products based in Washington. Lowe’s said the deal allowed it to capitalise on complementary strengths and employees’ expertise by sharing best practices for online marketing and merchandising.“The addition of ATG Stores is a strategic ...
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OpinionM&A climate poised for improvement
Private equity needs to go shopping in 2012, and global M&A activity will continue despite market volatility.
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AnalysisSears reveals up to 120 store closures in the US
Last week, US department store and general merchandise group Sears Holdings disclosed plans to close 100 to 120 Kmart and full-line Sears stores.
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News
Dollar Tree introduces transactional mobile-optimised website
Discounter Dollar Tree has introduced a transactional mobile-optimised website powered by Usablenet.The new site allows users to search for a specific item by keyword, product number or category and features a store locator.It also leverages social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, enabling Dollar Tree to build its brand awareness ...
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News
Demandtec strikes merger agreement with IBM
Walmart’s vendor of price optimisation software Demandtec has struck a merger agreement with IBM worth $440m (£281.6m).Demandtec’s cloud-based analytics solution helps retailers to adjust pricing according to customer buying patterns. Demandtec serves about 450 clients worldwide, including some of the biggest names in retail such as Casino, Ahold, Delhaize and ...
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AnalysisGap has its sights set on Europe for future growth
US clothing retailer Gap is confident it can weather the fallout from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.