General Merchandise

According to research, ownership of smartphones and tablets in particular have grown rapidly over the past couple of years, and that has created a multi-headed omnichannel hydra of a customer who retailers across all channels are desperately trying to appease.

There's a lot to like about the As Seen On TV category. It has a sell-through rate between 10% and 20%. Margins also are in the double-digits. Best of all, the products that make it to retail shelves are proven winners.

"Our market model is very sound," said AJ Khubani, CEO of TeleBrands. "As a group of companies, we test market hundreds of products on television, then bring the top 10 to retail. Drug chains are only getting the products that are most successful. They are consumer-tested with a known demand and significant advertising support."

LANDOVER, Md. — Giant Food of Landover, Md., is one of several retailers promoting environmental awareness as part of Earth Day Monday, the Ahold USA-owned retailer said.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Stop & Shop is marking Earth Day on Monday by emphasizing the measures it has taken to reduce its effects on the environment, the Ahold USA-owned supermarket banner said.

Stop & Shop highlighted its efforts to sell sustainably sourced seafood, reducing the environmental effects of its store operations — including adding environmentally friendly design features to stores — and helping customers reduce waste. The chain reiterated its intention to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2015.

DALLAS — Starting today, April 17, Kleenex brand, the only facial tissue with Sneeze Shield in all of its tissues, according to the company, is giving three schools a chance to win 250,000 eBoxTops for the 2013-2014 school year through the Kleenex brand in the Classroom sweepstakes.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Zak Designs on Tuesday announced the latest product license for its line of dinnerware for kids.

Zak is releasing two lines of mealtime products featuring characters from two Disney Junior animated shows: "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" and "Doc McStuffins."

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. has lowered its earnings expectations for first quarter 2013, the mass merchandise retailer said Tuesday.

The Minneapolis-based chain said it expected same-store sales growth in the quarter to be about flat over first quarter 2012 due to sales trends that have been weaker than expected, particularly in seasonal and weather-sensitive merchandise categories. As a result, earnings-per-share guidance is expected to be less than $1.10; the company's original guidance had stated earnings would be $1.10-$1.20 per share.

LAS VEGAS — No longer will the SymphonyIRI Group crunch data for the betterment of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies everywhere, the company's president and CEO Andrew Appel told a packed conference room at the data aggregator's 2013 Summit here.