Direct To Consumer (DTC)

Philadelphia – Net sales at Destination Maternity Corp. dropped 5% to $122 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, from $128.3 million the same quarter a year earlier. Same-store sales, including Internet sales, declined 5%.

Net sales declined primarily from the decrease in same-store sales and decreased sales related to the company's continued efforts to close underperforming stores. Sales results were below previously released guidance.

As part of its digital strategy, Avon has revamped its website.

"The Avon representative and her social circles have been the core of our business for more than 125 years," says Matt Harker, VP, Avon North America marketing. "The new site and a recently launched social media center help to forge strong connections between the representative and her consumers. We are giving her the tools, training and incentives to be a successful multichannel social seller."

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. announced that its chairman and CEO, Glen Murphy, will step down, effective February 1, 2015. He will be succeeded by Art Peck, the president of the company’s growth, innovation and digital division.

Murphy and Peck have worked side-by-side for the better part of a decade as Gap dramatically improved its financial performance while expanding globally, the company said.

With average in-store purchases exceeding online sales by two and three times, popular online-only retailers, including Birchbox, Piperlime, Bonobos and Blank Label are continuing their expansion into physical storefronts, further accelerating the trend of online retail concepts expanding their omnichannel sales strategy to include physical locations.

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Sixty-two percent of consumers expect live chat to be available on mobile devices, and 82% would use it, according to a new study commissioned by Moxie Software. Seventy-five percent of survey respondents stated that they would prefer to use live online chat versus calling to speak with an agent.

Aliso Viejo, Calif. - Johnny Rockets has reached its first agreement to distribute private label menu items for home consumption. Blackwood Industries, Inc., based in Orlando, Florida, has been selected to distribute branded hamburger patties and other related products via retail, as of Oct. 1, 2015.  

This comes on the heels of a recent Johnny Rockets announcement to launch Johnny Rockets Route 66 and Johnny Rockets Express restaurant banners.

For the first time in its history, Amazon will feature top deals from sellers on holiday deal pages worldwide. The holiday deals from sellers will now appear on the Amazon Today’s Deals page, Black Friday Store, Cyber Monday Store and many other high customer traffic site features.

Salt Lake City - Spring Mobile, a retailer of AT&T wireless phones and a wholly-owned subsidiary of GameStop Corp., has acquired 53 retail store locations from Product Center. With the addition of the new locations, Spring Mobile now operates 298 stores in 26 states.