MCM staff
Direct-to-consumer sales for Corte Madera, CA-based home furnishings cataloger/retailer Restoration Hardware increased 29%, to $42.3 million, for the first quarter ended April 29. That figure comes after a 50% increase in direct sales for the same period last year.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) was supposed to revolutionize operations, only it never materialized. In fact, according to a survey compiled by NCR Corp. and Retail Systems Alert Group, the adoption rate of RFID is still modest primarily because technical and cultural roadblocks continue to impede RFID’s growth.
Inventory management is a pendulum that is constantly swinging from calm to chaos. When product demand increases, availability decreases. The immediate reaction is to over compensate and substantially increase purchase orders. Demand then declines leaving extensive overstocks. It is a cycle that repeats itself with each new product.
Net revenue for San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) increased 10.2%, to $794.3 million, for the first quarter ended April 30.
Companies ignore reverse logistics at their own peril, because improving the returns process is a relatively easy way to move dollars to the bottom line. An automated reverse logistics operations
Westlake Village, CA-based retailer Guitar Center, the parent of the Medford, OR-based Musician’s Friend catalog, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the existing inventory and equipment of Pharr, TX-based musical instruments distributor/retailer Hermes Trading Co.