Seasonal

London, U.K. - Almost half (47%) of consumers will order gifts online this Christmas with less than a week until Dec. 25. According to the latest ECustomerServiceIndex results from EDigitalResearch and IMRG, when asked what date they would be comfortable placing a holiday online order, the majority of consumers (53%) said Wednesday Dec. 17 or before.   

Richmond, Va. -- Employers in the hospitality industry will pay the highest average wage for holiday employees at $11.80 per hour, followed by retail at $10.30, and food service at $9.40, according to a survey by Snagajob, which provides recruitment and hiring solutions to the hourly industry.  

St. Petersburg, Fla. –- HSN is offering a range of special events and deals for the 2014 holiday season. The interactive retailer will offer special “Black Friday” sale events on Nov. 7, 14 and 21, and also run its annual “Thanksgifting Weekend” event Thursday, Nov. 27 to Monday, Dec. 1 with special “Doorbuster” sale items.  

New York –- Imports to the U.S. were down in September from August, but still there was a measurable year-over-year increase. Sept. 2014 showed levels of imports 7% above imports in Sept. 2013.   

New York -- Retail e-commerce in the US grew 16.5% in 2013 to reach $264.3 billion, and will increase another 15.7% in 2014 to reach $305.7 billion, or 6.5% of all U.S. retail sales, according to Emarketer.      In other findings, mobile retail sales in the U.S. totaled $42.28 billion in 2013, 16% of all U.S. retail ecommerce sales, and will increase another 37.3% to reach $58.07 billion in 2014, accounting for 19% of the total US ecommerce market.   

Fort Worth, Texas -– Radio Shack is launching its new “R Promise” initiative to offer holiday shoppers services including price matching and new payment options. Radio Shack stores will match prices on identical products from local brick-and-mortar competitors, major online retailers (excluding wireless phones from online retailers) and RadioShack.com at the time of purchase or within 15 days of the purchase.  

Bloomfield Hills, Mich. --Taubman will offer a special "Frozen"attraction at 10 of its shopping centers across the country from Nov. 6-Dec. 24. The attraction comes a few days before Disney releases its "Frozen Sing-Along Edition" DVD on Nov. 18.

St. Louis –- Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. swung to a profit in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from a loss in the same quarter a year earlier. The retailer also announced that will open five pop-up stores for the 2014 holiday season, including one in Macy’s Herald Square flagship in New York City, and its State Street location in Chicago.