Coldwater Creek announced that in the quarter ending May 1 they had a profit of $2.3 million vs a loss of $7.6 million last year. Revenue grew by 6.4%. Same store sales grew by only 1% but margins improved from 31.1% to 37.4%. They did add though that inventory has been building up and they anticipate a loss for the coming quarter due to expected markdowns. Additionally, they said Georgia Shonk-Simmons, President and Chief Merchandising Officer, will retire next May and that Jerome Jessup, currently Executive Vice President, will succeed her. Jessup, 49, will immediately assume responsibility for merchandise design and development. Coldwater Creek is in a race to the finish with other national retailers like Ann Taylor, Talbots and Chico’s that cater to the same demographic. They are all attempting to upgrade their assortments without turning off their core customers and at this point none of the 4 have clearly separated themselves from the pack.
Walgreens is reversing a 15 year self-imposed ban on alcohol sales. They have already started rolling out this initiative and plan on stocking 5000 of their 8000 stores with beer and wine by the end of this year. It is expected this could add 2% to revenue. In the past, going back to the early 90’s, alcohol accounted for 10% of overall sales. They currently generate 75% of their revenue on drug sales and are expecting that this will significantly add volume and improve margins.
HauteLook, the private sale web retailer, received $31 million in a third round of new funding led by Insight Venture Partners, bringing their total funding to $41 million. The Los Angeles based company has over 2.5 million members. This is the first consumer fashion investment for Insight. This channel just continues to explode.
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