Winter Holidays

Being a celebrity athlete creates all sort of opportunities to leverage one’s likeness through licensing deals, oftentimes in ways that are inconsistent with the image and accomplishments that propelled the athlete to greatness.

Bethesda, Md. -- IBM on Monday released its Benchmark projection for online sales for the month of December, showing that online sales are expected to grow by 9.5% to 10% year-over-year.

For the week of Dec. 11, the report showed that online sales rose 10.8% over the same week in 2010. Mobile traffic increased to 12.1% of all online retailing sessions, compared with 5% over the same week last year and reflecting a 143.9% increase.

Omaha, Neb. -- There is a heartwarming story playing out  at Kmart stores  throughout the Midwest: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers'  layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts, especially toys and children’s clothing, that the families might otherwise have a hard time paying, the Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON — AAA forecasts 91.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the 2011-2012 year-end holiday travel season, a 1.4% increase over the 90.7 million people who traveled one year ago, the travel organization announced earlier this week. This year’s expected year-end holiday travel volume is the second-highest in the past decade and represents 30% of the total U.S. population.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart said Friday that, on the fifth day of its "12 Days of Giving" Facebook campaign, it is awarding $130,000 to 13 nonprofits that are helping restore communities after natural disasters. Communities in Alabama, Connecticut, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming will receive contributions from Walmart Foundation, the retailer’s philanthropic arm.

Over 12 consecutive days, Walmart will award a total of $1.5 million to 145 organizations.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that its Shaun White home line will debut at Target stores and Target.com the week of Dec. 26. 

The debut home line is a limited time only collection that includes bedding, lamps, wall decals, curtains, storage bins, a skateboard rack and piggy banks, the company said. Items will be in stores through June 2012. Priced affordably, the collection ranges from $9.99 to $89.99.

By Jeff Kim, [email protected]

SEATTLE — E-readers continue to be a popular gift choice this holiday season, with Amazon.com reporting that for the third week in a row, customers are purchasing more than one million Kindle devices per week. Among its Kindle offerings, the latest, Kindle Fire, remains the most sought-after product on Amazon.com. since it was introduced 11 weeks ago.