eCommerce

So much for the argument that the U.S. market is saturated with retail stores and e-commerce is hurting mall traffic. Tanger Factory Outlet Centers brought four new properties online in 2015 and still managed to achieve a portfolio occupancy rate in excess of 95% for the 35th consecutive year.

Build-A-Bear is adding two new board members whose backgrounds should serve the company well as it moves forward with its transformation plan.

Build-A-Bear announced that Tim Kilpin and Sarah Personette have been appointed to the company’s board of directors.

Kilpin, 55, will serve as a member of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation and Development Committee. Personette, 36, will serve as a member of the Compensation and Development Committee and as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

Whole Foods Market has been offering deliveries via Instacart in select markets for about a year, but reportedly is significantly extending the scope of the deal.

According to Re/code, Whole Foods has at least in principle made an unspecified investment in Instacart. Whole Foods has also reportedly signed a five-year deal making Instacart its exclusive perishables delivery provider.

Visa has been busy adding new retailers to its Visa Checkout online payment service, and now is rewarding them with an upgraded offering.

In April 2016, Visa will be releasing a set of new enhancements designed to improve both the consumer interface and ability for retailers to customize and integrate the service. Most features will be automatically available to retailers.

The CEO of HSN says that for the first time ever, more than half of sales at HSN came from digital channels.

But onine sales did not make up for heavy discounting, and the companyposted profit and revenue declines.The company reported that for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, net sales decreased 2% and adjusted EBITDA decreased 3%.Adjusted EPS was $1.15 compared to $1.22 in the prior year.

Macy’s says cold weather in January helped the retailer report a better than expected decrease in same store sales for the fourth quarter even as the company explores an expansion of its off-price and beauty formats.

For the period ended Jan. 30, same store sales fell 4.3%, slightly less than the 4.7% fall it had estimated. Total sales declined to $8.87 billion.

Atlanta-based The Home Depot reported record fourth-quarter and fiscal year results, as it emphasized "the interconnected customer experience" and rode a recovering U.S. housing market.

The company's fourth-quarter sales were a record $21.0 billion, up 9.5% from the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the three months were $1.5 billion, compared with $1.4 billion a year ago.

Comp-store sales for the fourth quarter were up 7.1%, and up 8.9% for U.S. stores.

Charming Charlie wants to make sure Web customers get the same attentive service as shoppers at its 350-plus stores.

To that end, the jewelry and accessories retailer has deployed the Yottaa ContextIntelligence cloud-based application acceleration and security platform to optimize, accelerate, and secure its online retail environment. The platform is being leveraged alongside Magento Enterprise.

Boston has long been known as a town that likes to imbibe now and then, and online grocery delivery service Instacart is helping to spread the cheer.

Instacart is partnering with local omnichannel liquor retailer Vinodivino to offer Boston customers same-day delivery of wine, liquor, and beer. Vinodivino is now part of the Instacart marketplace, meaning Boston residents can order alcohol online from Vinodivino through the Instacart site or app and get alcohol delivered in as little as one hour.