eCommerce

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- Mindy C. Meads has resigned from the board of directors of The Wet Seal, effective Feb. 4, in order to focus on her new role as CEO of specialty women’s apparel retailer Calypso St. Barth.

Sport Chalet’s digital strategy paid off in the third quarter ended Dec. 29, which saw online sales surge 22% from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

The company reported net income for the quarter of $1.5 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1.9 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, in the third quarter of last year.

Washington, D.C. – Fewer U.S. consumers will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, but will spend a little more than last year. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2014 Valentine’s Day spending survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, 54% of Americans will celebrate with their loved ones in 2014, compared to 60% in 2013.

The average person plans to spend $133.91 on candy, cards, gifts, dinner and more, up slightly from $130.97 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $17.3 billion.

Minneapolis – John J. Mulligan, CFO and executive VP of Target, is publicly calling for U.S. businesses to adopt chip-enabled smartcards. In a column published in the Congressional blog of political site The Hill, Mulligan said the attack on Target exposed the sophistication of today’s hackers and that the retailer had already been striving toward adopting chip-enabled smartcards, used in most of the rest of the world, before the holiday 2013 data breach.

On the heels of a healthy yet modest holiday shopping season, cautious consumers aren’t quite ready to splurge on Valentine’s Day this year, continuing to keep their budgets in check.

Pleasanton, Calif. – DD’s Discounts, a division of Ross Stores, Inc., will relocate its Arlington, Texas, store on Feb. 8. The newly relocated store is in Four Corners Shopping Center.

Overall, DD’s Discounts operates 131 locations in 10 states, including 25 in Texas.

Philadelphia -- Five Below will enter the state of Tennessee, with plans to open up to five new stores in the market by spring of this year. With this new market, Five Below will operate stores in 20 states.

Grand Forks, N.D. - Acme Tools is revamping its online customer experience by launching its redesigned e-commerce website with IBM WebSphere Commerce and BlueSky Technology Partners. The new acmetools.com has new features and functionality that deliver a significantly improved customer experience for easy online shopping.