eCommerce

New York - Retail sales in the United States increased 5.5% from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, fueled by demand for women's apparel, jewelry and dining out, according to MastyerCard Advisors. Spending Pulse holiday report. Consumer electronics, which many industry analysts had predicted would be among the strongest categories this holiday season, was actually among the weakest, according to the report, with sales "basically flat" from Black Friday to Dec. 24 and in negative territory starting on Nov. 1. 

New York - The day after Christmas (Dec. 26) posted the highest traffic for online shopping, with 125 points, since the 2014 holiday shopping season began. According to Verizon Retail Index data, year-over-year, traffic attributed to online shopping was on par (125) with the same day in 2013.  

Ezra Dabah is no stranger to children’s wear. As the former chairman and CEO of The Children’s Place, he helped create a billion-dollar retail powerhouse. Dabah left the company in 2007, but he returned to the kids fashion business with Ruum American Kid’s Wear, a fashion-forward upmarket concept that bowed in 2012 and operates 24 stores, primarily in malls.

With an online storefront on the Amazon Webstore hosted e-commerce platform, New York-based direct-to-consumer specialty fashion retailer Spiegel LLC is already extending its virtual presence. Taking that extended Amazon Webstore presence a step further into the world of social commerce is the next logical step in engaging consumers in whatever channel they choose.

Seattle – It was a very mobile holiday season for Amazon.com. Nearly 60% of Amazon.com customers shopped using a mobile device this holiday.     Mobile shopping accelerated as customers got later into the shopping season. Cyber Monday continues to be Amazon.com’s peak mobile shopping day. On Cyber Monday, Amazon customers worldwide ordered more than 18 toys per second from a mobile device.  

New York – When it came to fulfilling holiday deliveries, Apple, Dell, Nordstrom and Zappos stood out among other major competitors. According to research from StellaService, all four provided an aggressive guarantee that orders placed by Dec. 23 would be delivered by Christmas and managed to meet that promise in all regions of the U.S.  

Female executives make their mark on the world of retail IT

It’s no secret that neither the retail industry nor the technology industry has exactly achieved parity when it comes to granting women access to top-level decision-making positions. According to a report from IIC Partners, 64% of retailers said their senior executive team was less than 25% female — despite the fact that women drive a whopping 85% of all consumer purchases.

Women are famously underrepresented in technology.

New York - Christmas Day saw both strong online and mobile sales. Key Christmas Day trends reported by the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark include an 8.3% year-over-year increase in online sales.   In addition, mobile traffic accounted for 57.1% of all online traffic on Christmas Day, an increase of 18.6% from the prior year. Mobile sales accounted for 34.8% of all online sales on Christmas Day, an increase of 20.4% year-over-year.