Winter Holidays

Regional department store operator Gordmans Stores said its fourth quarter same store sales are likely to decline in the mid-single digits after it reported a 6.1% drop in comps for the third quarter ended November 2.

Despite the comp decline, Gordman’s total sales at its 93 stores increased 5.8% to $151.3 million from $143.1 million due to the addition of 10 new stores in the prior nine months. Net income for the third quarter was $1.1 million, or six cents a share, compared to net income of $4 million, or 21 cents a share, last year.

West Palm Beach, Fla. -- U.S. online retail sales will reach $508 billion by 2020, representing a market share of nearly 14% (or 17%, if food retailing is excluded), compared to expected online sales of $260 billion in 2013. According to a new report from FTI Consulting, this represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 11% from 2012 through 2020.

Chef Boyardee is driving sales by partnering with Microsoft to offer customers a chance to win the highly coveted Xbox One.

Five daily winners will be selected between now and Feb. 18, 2014. Participants must visit www.winwithchef.com and enter the eight-digit code found on specially marked cans and microwave cups of Chef Boyardee.

By Ike Boruchow, analyst, Sterne Agee, New York

This year, Black Friday gave us a taste of what to expect for the remainder of the holiday selling season: intense competition, deep discounts, and choppy mall traffic. Earlier store openings drove heavy traffic, which dissipated and then bounced through the day.

Sears will be participating in KIIS FM's Jingle Ball 2013, Friday, Dec. 6 at LA Live in Los Angeles. The main event will include a Sears Style fashion show in the Jingle Ball Village.

New York -- Overall spending over Black Friday weekend was expected to hit $57.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, which is down 2.8% from last year’s $59.1 billion. It was the first spending decline on a Black Friday weekend since 2009. But there was some good news for retailers: Online sales soared over the holiday weekend.

The NRF estimated that 141 million Americans shopped during the four-day weekend, up 1.2% from a year ago.

The holiday season has officially kicked off and Clorox is anticipating the messes that will need cleaning. The brand is teaming up with actress Busy Philipps for the third annual Bleach It Away sweepstakes.

Philipps and the Messy Melodies, Clorox's own band of comedic holiday carolers, will hit the streets of New York City to bring holiday “bleachable moments” to life through song.

New York -- Overall online sales from Thanksgiving through Sunday were up 14.5% in 2013 over the same period last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Mobile traffic accounted for 40.9% of all online traffic, up more than 35% percent compared to the same period last year. Mobile sales remained strong, reaching 23.2% of all online sales, up 43.7% year-over-year.

In other findings: