Club & Warehouse

Former Barnes & Noble executive Jamie Iannone was named president and CEO of Samsclub.com in a restructuring that elevates and integrates Sam’s Club’s online business into the Walmart’s Global eCommerce business unit based in California.

Iannone previously served as president of digital products at Barnes & Noble and oversaw the book seller’s Nook Media unit. He also spent seven years at eBay, earned a bachelor’s degree at Princeton and an MBA at Stanford.

New York -- Former Barnes & Noble executive Jamie Iannone has been appointed president and CEO of Samsclub.com in a restructuring that integrates Sam’s Club’s online business into the Walmart’s Global eCommerce business unit based in California. Previously, most of the warehouse club’s online business was run separately out of the retailer’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Costco’s sales increased by 6% in the month of December and the first few days of January compared with December 2012.

The Issaquah, Wash.-based company reported sales of $11.53 billion during the five weeks that ended Sunday, compared with $10.87 billion during the same period last year. Comps increased by 5% at the company's U.S. stores.

For the 18 weeks that ended Sunday, sales were $38.33 billion, a 6% increase over the $36.26 billion in sales the company had the year before. Comps in the United States increased by 4%.
 

Issaquah, Wash. - Costco Wholesale Club’s same-store sales rose 3% in December, beating analysts' estimates of a 1.8% gain. The metric climbed 5% in the U.S. and inched up 1% overseas for the five weeks ended Jan. 5.

Total monthly revenue increased 6% to $11.53 billion.

For the 18-week period, same-store sales were up 3%. In the U.S. the metric rose 4% and 1% internationally.

Washington, D.C. - Jim Sinegal, Costco co-founder and board member, will receive the Gold Medal Award in 2014 during the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Conference and Expo in New York City. In addition, NRF has named South Korea’s Lotte Shopping as the International Retailer of the Year.

Nike has been named Retail Innovator of the Year, and Half Price Books’ Executive VP  and chief strategy officer Kathy Doyle Thomas has been selected as 2014’s Silver Plaque recipient.

The National Retail Federation will honor Jim Sinegal, Costco co-founder and board member, with its Gold Medal Award during Retail’s BIG Show.

Additionally, NRF has named South Korea’s Lotte Shopping as the International Retailer of the Year. Shin Heon, president and CEO of the company, will accept the award. Nike has been named Retail Innovator of the Year, and Half Price Books’ EVP and chief strategy officer Kathy Doyle Thomas has been selected as 2014’s Silver Plaque recipient.

New York -- Zappos took the top spot in a ranking of fastest holiday shippers according to a study by Kurt Salmon and StellaService. The study analyzed shipping times for orders placed on Cyber Monday from more than 50 retailers across a broad range of retail sectors, from big boxes to online-only players. It found that retailers in the top-five delivered multi-unit orders in an average of 2.9 days.

The top five companies for holiday shipping are the following:

Walmart China CEO Greg Foran reiterated the company’s goal of accelerating Sam’s Club growth in the coming years with several published reports indicating the pace of Sam’s Club openings may eventually reach 10 units annually.