All articles by Planet Retail – Page 33
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News
Amazon launches sports collectibles store
Amazon has launched a sports collectibles store offering more than two million items from major leagues and events. The etail giant has signed up providers including Professional Sports Authenticator, James Spence Authentication and Beckett Grading Services to sell items on the store on Amazon.com.Vice-president of Amazon Marketplace Peter Faricy said: ...
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Amazon launches Junglee.com
Amazon has launched Junglee.com in India, a shopping service aimed at small ecommerce providers. Junglee.com allows retailers to showcase their products.At launch, there were more than 12 million products.Vice-president of Amazon.com Amit Agarwal said: “We are excited to give customers in India a single online starting point where they can ...
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Casino signs joint venture with Al Meera Holding Company
French retailer Casino has signed a joint venture with Qatar’s Al Meera Holding Company to manage proposed retail partnerships in North Africa. The co-operation will be registered under ALGE Retail Corporation and based in Geneva, Switzerland, initially managing projects in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Jordan. Al Meera will own a ...
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Woolworths to accelerate restructure
Woolworths is to accelerate the restructuring of its Dick Smith consumer electronics chain with a view to divesting the business. After conducting a strategic review of the operation the retailer said that electronics is better delivered through the Big W chain and its multichannel offer. Following further restructure, Dick Smith ...
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Netto to pilot revised store model
Edeka-owned German discounter Netto is piloting a revised store model in Verden-Hönisch, near Bremen in the north of the country. The shop has wider aisles, lower shelving, a brighter, contemporary interior design and clearer signage. The retailer said: “We are still far away from Aldi and Lidl and need to ...
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Svyaznoy posts net sales increase
Mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy has posted a net sales rise at its online store of 133% in 2011, thanks largely to sales of electronic items such as laptops, digital cameras, as well as accessories. The number of visitors to the site soared 71.4% in 2011 with the highest activity recorded ...
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Home improvement retailer Praktiker relaunches
Home improvement retailer Praktiker has relaunched its store in Kaiserslautern, in the southwest. The store features a new pricing structure, better product descriptions and more services. The retailer has divided its lines into three segments. Entry-level products are branded ‘Budget’ with middle items ‘Praktiker’ and high-end goods consisting of A-brands. ...
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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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Inditex opens first Zara store in Peru
Inditex has opened its first Zara store in Peru in the capital, Lima. The shop is in the Jockey Plaza shopping centre, has a sales area of 19,375 sq ft and stocks collections produced for the southern hemisphere.
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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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Isetan Mitsukoshi set to revamp store network
Department store group Isetan Mitsukoshi is to revamp its store network as part of a three-year plan starting this year.The retailer plans to invest in renovating flagship stores in greater Tokyo, and from 2015 switch focus to other areas.According to Hiroshi Onishi, the chief executive due to take up the ...
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Pick n Pay reveals details of store rebranding scheme
Pick n Pay has revealed details of its store rebranding scheme in Zimbabwe, following the increase of its stake in TM Supermarkets.Seven out of approximately 40 TM stores will be rebranded as Pick n Pay with a total investment of approximately $13m (£8m) earmarked across the business for store operations.Head ...
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Metro Cash & Carry to invest in India
Metro Cash & Carry is to invest more than €100m (£84m) to strengthen its presence in India.At present, Metro operates nine stores at six locations in India –Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jalandhar and Ludhiana – and aims to increase the store number to 50 shortly. The retailer has so far ...
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Carrefour franchise partner to open new stores
Carrefour’s franchise partner Majid Al Futtaim plans to open 15 Carrefour hypermarkets and 30 supermarkets this year. Majid Al Futtaim chief executive Iyad Malas said: “We will complete the construction of two malls (Fujairah City Centre and Beirut City Centre) and expect to start construction in Cairo at our Mall ...
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H&M reports fouth quarter sales increase
H&M has reported its results for the fourth quarter and 2011. For the full year, H&M’s sales including VAT increased 8% in local currencies. However, sales in krona were hit by currency translation effects. Net sales reached SEK110bn (£10.4bn) while gross profit amounted to SEK66.15m (£6.2m), corresponding to a gross ...
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Hudson’s Bay completes Lord & Taylor acquisition
Department store operator Hudson’s Bay has completed the acquisition of its affiliate Lord & Taylor Holdings. Following the deal, Hudson’s Bay will run The Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. Richard Baker will remain governor and chief executive of the new partnership while Donald Watros continues as chief operating officer.Bonnie ...
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Sears cuts 400 jobs
Sears, the department store group, has cut about 400 jobs. The majority of the positions were in the head office and stores and excluded customer-facing staff. The lay-offs follow the December redundancies of about 70 head office staff. The retailer insisted it has no plans to close stores. Vice-president of ...
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Drugstore Schlecker to file for insolvency
Drugstore retailer Schlecker is to file for insolvency. The development is not expected to have an immediate impact on the retailer’s staff or result in store closures in the short term.Schlecker failed to secure funds to keep it afloat while restructuring. “Necessary restructuring measures cannot be implemented as quickly as ...
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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 ...