International Business

Of all the celebrants of China’s annual “Singles Day” Nov. 11 holiday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was probably the happiest.

By midnight Nov. 11 China time (which is ahead of all U.S. time zones), Alibaba estimated it had settled about $14.34 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) through its Alipay payment platform on its China and international retail marketplaces.

Bethesda, Md. -- EDENS announced the appointment of Rob Wyant as COO. Wyant brings over 30 years of experience in the retail real estate industry, with most of his career spent at General Growth and Westfield. He will use his vast knowledge in leasing, property managements, legal and tenant coordination functions, to inspire operational excellence at EDENS.

Top Pot Doughnuts will open its third Texas retail café at the new Richardson CityLine development located in Richardson.

The Seattle-based doughnut and coffee chain operates 20 stores in the Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas areas.

"We are thrilled to be a part of CityLine,” saidTop Pot Doughnuts co-founder Mark Klebeck. "We look forward to serving the businesses in this highly anticipated development as well as the residents of Richardson and Plano.”

Ikea’s U.S. expansion to bring it to another new market

Ikea is looking to open its first store in the state of Indiana.

The home furnishings giant is submitting plans to the City of Fishers, Indiana, to open a 296,000-sq.-ft. store 15 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis.

Pending approvals, construction of the new Ikea could begin as early as summer 2016, with an opening in fall 2017.

For merchants looking to sustainably grow their revenue and future-proof their business in an ever-increasing competitive landscape, there is almost no better decision they can make than expanding beyond their domestic market.

The world’s biggest online shopping holiday got off to a roaring start in China.

In the first 90 minutes of the “Singles Day” sale, which kicked off at 12 midnight in Beijing on Nov. 11, total sales exceeded $5 billion, Alibaba reported. About 74% of sales were from mobile phones.

Estimates are that annual shopping extravaganza could reach as high as $11 billion in sales.

Macy's is adding a retail industry and corporate governance expert its board of directors.

The retailer has named Frank Blake, recently former chairman and chief executive officer of Home Depot, its board. Blake’s election increases the size of the board to 14 members.

It would take a pretty big event to cause Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Off 5th, and Neiman Marcus to all align their online discount offers.

Singles Day, coming up on Nov. 11, is just that size of an event. Once an informal celebration of the Chinese singles dating scene, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba formally turned Singles Day into a shopping holiday in 2009. The occasion generated gross merchandise volume of more than $9.3 billion on the Alibaba Alipay mobile and digital payment platform alone in 2014.