Winter Holidays

FedEx on-time performance went up this holiday season while UPS did not fare quite as well.

According to new data from package tracking provider ShipMatrix Inc., FedEx met its guarantees of one-, two- and three-day holiday deliveries 97.8% of the time in 2015. This marked an improvement from 97.3% in 2014 and 95.4% in 2013.

Christmas may have passed, but the holiday shipping surge continues

According to UPS, the holiday peak shipping season will extend well into the first week of the New Year. On Jan. 6, 2016 (National Returns Day) alone, consumers are expected to ship more than a million packages back to retailers. By the end of the first week of January, UPS expects to deliver more than 5 million return packages, an increase of 500,000 from the 2014-15 holiday returns season.

The three-day Christmas weekend (Dec. 25 - Dec. 27) showed strong consumer interest in online shopping during and immediately after the holiday.

According to Verizon Retail Index, broadband traffic attributed to e-commerce shopping activity increased dramatically starting on Christmas Day to 26% above average daily levels, posting a seasonal high of 30% above normal levels by Sunday, Dec. 27.

Amazon.com had a merry (and prosperous) holiday season, at least according to a limited set of statistics released by the e-tail giant.

Amazon touted the impact of mobile commerce on its 21st holiday season, reporting that nearly 70% of its customers shopped using a mobile device. However, Amazon did not break that figure down into how many shoppers actually made mobile purchases compared to those who browsed on a mobile device and bought through another channel.

Did a last-minute rush make for stronger holiday sales than many — including the National Retail Federation — had expected?

That’s the way it looks based on the MasterCard Spending Pulse report, which found that sales (excluding auto and gas) increased 7.9% during the holiday season, led by double-digit gains in e-commerce, women’s apparel and furniture.

The SpendingPulse report, released on Monday, December 28, looked at U.S. sales trends across cards, cash and checks from Black Friday to Christmas Eve.

Teen retailer rue21 is collaborating with a youth nonprofit to make a positive impact on the lives of its customers.

The company announced it is partnering with Together We Rise, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the way youth navigate through the foster care system in America. The collaboration is a new addition to rue21’s philanthropy initiative, rueGIVESback.

The holiday season got off to a horrible start at Bed Bath & Beyond and things went downhill from there, judging from the industry leader’s uncharacteristic and concerning profit warning.

The company badly missed its third quarter sales and profit forecast for a period that included most of Thanksgiving weekend, and said its same-store sales for the fourth quarter were likely to increase 1%.

The holiday season got off to a horrible start at Bed Bath & Beyond and things went downhill from there, judging from the industry leader's uncharacteristic and concerning profit warning.