eCommerce

Although Amazon.com recently more than tripled the number of items available via its Amazon Dash buttons and cited some impressive growth statistics, actual use may be relatively low.

According to daily analysis of a panel of more than 4 million online shoppers from digital commerce research firm Slice Intelligence, fewer than 50% of people who had bought a Dash button before Amazon expanded the assortment on March 31 had ever actually made an order using one.

Two e-commerce vets are looking to tackle one of the retail industry’s most vexing problems: returns of online purchases.

David Sobie, former senior VP of marketing & business development at flash site HauteLook, and Mark Geller, former head of mobile at the company (which Nordstrom acquired in 2011), are launching Happy Returns, which seeks to eliminate the “pain” of returns by mail by establishing a network of “Return Bars” in malls and stores where shoppers can return merchandise purchased online and get an immediate refund.

Apparel retailer Express has been building its brand and upping its cool factor among millennials by signing up famous athletes and models to serve as “brand ambassadors.”

It’s just one of several tactics that the chain is using to drive its performance under the leadership of CEO David Kornberg, who took the reins in January 2015.

Click here to read more.

Whirlpool Corp. will bring its Maytag brand of appliances to 600 Best Buy stores this month rounding out what was already an extensive offering.

Maytag brand products will hit the sales floor at 600 Best Buy stores in mid-April and also be sold online, the retailer said. The move expands Whirlpool’s assort at Best Buy which already includes the leading appliance manufacturer’s Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Amana brands. Best Buy also offer appliances from LG, Samsung, Frigidaire, Bosch and Electrolux.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is expanding its use of augmented and virtual reality to help customers truly “visualize” home improvement projects.

When it comes to marketing spending, Deckers Brands is doing more with less.

The Goleta, California-based vertical apparel retailer is performing advanced predictive analytics on the performance of different marketing activities for its North American direct-to-consumer Ugg specialty footwear business. This includes an e-commerce site, as well as 45 stores.

For about three hours the morning of April 4 it looked like Christopher & Banks had found itself a new board member, but then the company discovered a conflict that prevented the high level executive from accepting the nomination.

Macy’s announced it will open a new Bloomingdale's Outlet store in November 2016 at The Outlets at Orange, in Orange, California.

The 24,000-sq.-ft. store will be the 17th Bloomingdale's Outlet location and offer a range of off-price apparel and accessories for men, women and children.