Winter Holidays

New York -- The sales figures are in for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Using a sophisticated social media analytics platform, SAP tracked consumer sentiment on these critical shopping days via Facebook, Twitter and 165 million other sites across the social web to identify patterns and uncover revealing shopper insights.

View SAP’s sentiment-tracking infographic here.

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble will offer teachers a special holiday shopping event Saturday, Dec. 1.

Educators who shop at their local Barnes & Noble store or at www.bn.com and present a valid Barnes & Noble Educators Discount Card will receive special discounts on select merchandise.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp. on Wednesday said it will pay a special dividend worth some $3.0 billion to investors, sending cash to its shareholders ahead of a likely increase in the dividend tax. The chain also posted monthly same-store sales that beat analysts' expectations.

“Our strong balance sheet and favorable access to the credit markets allow us to provide shareholders with this dividend,” Costco CFO Richard Galanti said in a statement.

Where did the idea for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday Consumer Face-Off originate?

The Canadian division of Toys "R" Us has added new distribution capacity in British Columbia to receive imports and improve shipping to local stores.

The 180,000-sq.-ft. facility, located in the Vancouver suburb of Delta, is the retailer’s third Canadian distribution center. It is strategically positioned to receive goods from overseas and domestic manufacturers who can now ship directly to British Columbia for distribution to local Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney said Tuesday it has launched its nationwide Holiday Giving Tour, which entails a 12-day giving spree during which the retailer carries out acts of generosity in a new city each day.

Events include Christmas tree lighting, ice skating, Santa visits and tobogganing.
 
The tour kicks off Nov. 27 with a live holiday performance by Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend, followed by free ice skating, skate rentals and hot chocolate in Manhattan's Citi Pond at Bryant Park.

Target is working its way across Canada beginning this week by hosting special events in 20 cities to build interest in the planned opening of 124 stores in 2013.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak reported Tuesday that it estimates retail foot traffic over the Black Weekend shopping period rose 8.2% year-over-year. That equates to more than 594 million store visits between Thursday and Monday.

Retail sales increased 2.7%, with shoppers spending about $22 billion across the weekend's four days. Thursday's "door-buster" deals drove sales and traffic earlier in the weekend.