eCommerce

The pace of expansion slowed at Shoe Carnival in 2015 but the company produced respectable growth against a challenging prior year comparison that has it poised to achieve a major milestone in 2016.

Harry & David is using social media to bring consumers back to the fun of a childhood Easter egg hunt.

The specialty gourmet gift retailer is hosting a social media giveaway called the “Eggciting Hunt Sweepstakes” through April 15 with hundreds of dollars of gift cards as prizes. Participants register online and then are sent on a hunt for clues to find virtual eggs on Harry & David’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store in O’Fallon, Missouri on March 5.

The 25,000-sq.-ft. store is located at the O’Fallon Walk Shopping Center, 30 miles west of downtown St. Louis along Interstate 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters, on the southwest corner of Highway K and Feise Road.

The opening is part of the retailer’s 2016 expansion program, totaling about 70 new locations during the year.

Destination XL Group is seeing strong same store sales growth from its stores branded as DXL as it continues to shift away from the smaller footprint Casual Male concept.

Destination XL Group, which bills itself as the largest omnichannel specialty retailer of big and tall men's apparel, said its total same store sales increased 3.1%, but its 137 DXL stores open for more than 13 months grew comps 8.9%.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store North El Centro, California on March 5. The opening is part of the retailer’s 2016 expansion program, totaling about 70 new locations during the year.

The 26,000- sq.-ft. store is located at Centro Commons, 11 miles north of the California-Mexico border, at the intersection of Imperial Avenue and Cruickshank Drive. With this location, Ross operates 277 stores in California, its largest state.

Ulta Beauty is on fire — offline and on.

The specialty beauty retailer plans to open 100 new stores in 2016 while also pursuing new merchandising initiative to enhance the productivity of existing locations.

Consumers have spoken, and there is a definite number of retailer emails that crosses the line.

According to a new survey of more than 1,000 U.S. shoppers from customer targeting technology provider First Insight, the average consumer subscribes to 2.3 retailer email lists and receives 13.1 emails a week from these lists.

Businesses throughout North America can expect above normal temperatures in most markets over the Easter weekend (March 25-27), according to Planalytics.

The strongest warmth compared to normal will be along the West Coast and from the Plains to the East Coast. The Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions can expect intermittent showers leading up to the Easter holiday.