Consumer Electronics

Worthington, Ohio - Amazon and Nordstrom shoppers plan to increase their holiday spending the most compared to other shoppers, according to a survey by Prosper Insights & Analytics.  The report, “Holiday 2014: Retailers to Watch,”  finds that while overall holiday spending plans are up this holiday season, shoppers will still be looking for sales and big discounts and spending only what they have to, making waves for retailers to navigate this year.   

Never underestimate the creativity of unscrupulous customers is the key takeaway for all retailers following Walmart’s effort to implement a liberal price match policy this week.

  New York - J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Rite Aid, Meijer and Sears rank as the best retailers for Black Friday deals, according to a survey by personal finance social network WalletHub.  The survey shows that Penney has the highest overall discount rate at 65%, while Big Lots, at 24%, and Costco, at 21%, have the lowest. WalletHub surveyed 5,525 deals from the 2014 Black Friday ad scans of 21 of the biggest U.S. retailers. Here is a quick summary of some of the key findings.

LYNDHURST, N.J. - Citizen Watch Company of America opened its first-ever global flagship, in Times Square, New York City.    The 1,300-sq.-ft. foot store is designed to appeal to amateur and serious watch enthusiasts alike, with interactive and hands-on displays and exclusive offerings, Multiple 360- degree cases allow for shopping from either side of the case and provide easy movement throughout the store.  

New York - Total retail sales in the United States  will rise 5% to reach $862 billion during November and December this year, according to the latest forecast from eMarketer.  Among the biggest trends to watch will be the acceleration in online sales, which are expected to grow at  16.6% year over year to reach $72.41 billion, or 8.4% of all retail purchases this holiday season. It’s a considerable uptick from 2013, when online sales totaled 7.6% of all holiday retail purchases.

Minneapolis — Best Buy Co. Inc. is partnering with shopping app provider Ibotta Inc. to drive Black Friday sales at Best Buy stores and on its website. Ibotta will provide Best Buy shoppers an exclusive cash back offer when they purchase more than $100 in-store or online at Best Buy.   

New York - Amazon is once again tops in online customer satisfaction, but its leadership is eroding, according to a study by Answers.com, a provider of  cloud-based customer experience solutions. Amazon is down four points from its 2013 score of 84 (on a 100-point scale), and leads QVC.com and Netflix by just one point. 

Same stores sales declined again at Staples North American retail stores in the third quarter, but chairman and CEO Ron Sargent contends the company is gaining momentum on a reinvention strategy.

Sargent is being generous with his usage of the word momentum to describe the performance of the nation’s leading office supplies retailer. The third quarter revealed persistent weakness in retail operations and the international business offset by modest growth in the commercial business.