Retail

Visa shared select details about spending activity from its credit card holders which confirmed findings from other organizations showing that e-commerce sales set new records during the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.

The credit card issuers said e-commerce sales across smart phones, tablets and PCs conducted by U.S. Visa accountholders increased 30% to $7.8 billion. Visa also noted that Cyber Monday ruled the five-day period with spending on Visa cards up 28% to $2.6 billion while Thanksgiving Day saw a 30% jump to nearly $1 billion.

There were more than 1 billion page views on Walmart.com from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, which the retailer said made for record sales.

Walmart said Cyber Monday 2013 was the biggest online sales day in its history and that the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday was the highest five-day stretch in online sales to date, but stopped short of disclosing actual sales results.

Safeway has reached a definitive agreement to sell 11 of its Dominick's stores in the Chicago metropolitan area in a cash and lease assumption transaction to Roundy's. Roundy's will take possession of the stores during a transition period that will take place in the next two months.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Peter Freedman was appointed managing director of the Consumer Goods Forum with responsibility for leading the Paris-based organization’s efforts to promote better lives through better business.

Dan Sullivan was elevated to the role of CFO at Ahold USA following the departure of Paula Price.

Price spent nearly five years there, but decided to take her career in a new direction, according to a statement by the supermarket operator, subsidiary of Netherlands-based Royal Ahold and owner of the Stop & Shop and Giant Food Stores chains. Price will lecture at a leading university on leadership and technical topics related to her unique business journey in addition to complementing her existing corporate and non-profit board positions, according to the company.

UPS is trying to capitalize on this year’s shorter holiday shopping season, which is six days fewer than last year’s, by touting the shipping services its UPS Store offers.

The UPS Store has a network of 4,300 employees at locally owned and operated centers ready to pack and ship everything from fragile glass ornaments to surfboards and golf clubs. The store also offers customers a Pack and Ship Guarantee.

Consumers who prefer packing their own gifts themselves can obviously still ship them via the UPS Store, but are asked to do the following:

Ascena Retail Group, parent company of Lane Bryant, Dressbarn and Justice, may have just reported same store sales growth across all its formats and achieved Thanksgiving weekend sales objectives, but president and CEO David Jaffe remains cautious in his outlook for the remainder of the holiday season.

As so many other retailers have noted in recent weeks, Jaffe said this year’s highly competitive, promotional and compressed holiday season makes it difficult to know how the next few weeks will play out, despite the company’s recent performance.

Wired, a Conde Nast brand, is getting ready to open a popup store for the ninth consecutive year in New York City, featuring electronics, rare objects d' art, apparel and accessories, musical instruments, kitchen gadgets and adventure gear.

Located in the heart of the Meatpacking District, at 353 West 14th St., the store will be open from noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays, from Dec. 4 through Dec. 22. This year’s popup store is sponsored by Citi, the 2014 Corvette Stingray and Delta Air Lines.