Winter Holidays

By Jason Hamilton, Snagajob

Soon it will be the peak time of year for retail sales: the make-or-break, pressure cooker fourth quarter is already upon us. But before the cash register is humming and online orders are coming in just as fast as they can be fulfilled, retailers need to hire their seasonal employees.

By Adam Simpson, CEO, Easy Office Phone

Black Friday and Cyber Monday represent two of the year’s biggest sales days, generating billions in revenue. Chain stores, shopping centers and even partners need to be prepared for the onslaught of consumer demand.

Seattle – Nordstrom reported declining net earnings during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 despite an increase in net sales. Net earnings totaled $137 million, down 7.5% from $146 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax is opening most stores at 8 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving night. OfficeMax.com will start offering online Black Friday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Thanksgiving morning.

The OfficeMax Black Friday shopping event will take place for three days from Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30 in stores and at OfficeMax.com. OfficeMax.com will also host a special online-only, pre-Black Friday sales event at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Sam’s Club was Walmart’s best performing division during the third quarter and holiday plans outlined by president and CEO Rosalind Brewer suggest that could be the case in the fourth quarter as well.

Same store sales at Sam’s increased 1.1% and total sales increased 2.1% to $12.4 billion a while with traffic was up among both business and individual members. Operating profit increased 9.2% to $474 million.

OfficeMax plans to open most of its stores at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Meanwhile, its e-commerce site will begin offering online Black Friday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Thanksgiving morning.

The OfficeMax Black Friday shopping event will take place for three days from Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30 in stores and online. OfficeMax.com will also host a special online-only, pre-Black Friday sales event at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 27.

New research from the National Retail Federation sheds light on how 140 million Americans plan to shop during the Thanksgiving weekend.

According to a new survey from the National Retail Federation, Black Friday will be the biggest day of the weekend: 69.1% plan to shop on Black Friday, or approximately 97 million shoppers.

London -- Disney U.K. is teaming up with Harrods to open a Cinderella-inspired "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique" at the world famous department store, marking the first time that a Disney Parks and Resorts concept has been recreated in the United Kingdom. The boutique will be the centerpiece of partnership between Disney and Harrods that also includes a dedicated Disney Store, which opened on Nov. 1. .

North Plainfield, N.J. -- Forty-three percent of respondents to Levin Management’s annual pre-holiday retail sentiment survey believe that their holiday sales will peak prior to and during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend sales period. In other notable results, 43.6% of respondents’ companies plan to open new stores in 2014 – a significant jump from 23% in last year’s pre-holiday poll and 35.9% the previous year.

San Francisco – Several key retail customer metrics during October 2013 indicate holiday spending will rise this year compared to last year, even as holiday store traffic levels decline. According to data on nearly 20 million domestic shopping sessions during October analyzed by in-store retail analytics technology provider Euclid, window conversion in October, defined as the number of shoppers that enter a store as a percentage of the total foot traffic, rose to 8.3% from 6.5% last year, but decreased from 8.7% in September 2013.