eCommerce

New York -- Limited Brands is putting the expansion of its teen-favorite Pink division into high gear.

On the chain’s quarterly conference call, company representatives said Pink will more than double its store count this year, growing from 34 stores to 83 stores by yearend.

The Cellular Connection, the largest Verizon wireless retailer in the U.S., has unveiled a new design in its store in Indianapolis that will be incorporated into all its new stores moving forward. The design  is focused on providing a hands-on shopping experience and help customers understand how to fully integrate their technology purchases into their lifestyles.

New York -- Barnes & Noble reported on Thursday a loss in the fiscal third quarter, hurt by a 26% decline in revenue for its Nook e-book readers.
 
The company posted a loss of $6.1 million quarter through Jan. 26, compared to a profit of $52 million in the year-ago period. The retailer blamed the loss partially on charges stemming from weaker-than-expected sales of Nook e-readers during the holiday shopping season.
   
Revenue fell 9% to $2.22 billion. Analysts had predicted sales of $2.4 billion.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holding Corp. reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit for the fourth quarter before special items, boosted by lower costs.

The company said its net loss for the quarter ended on Feb. 2 narrowed to $489 million from $2.4 billion a year earlier. Total costs dropped 2.2% to $12.88 billion in the fourth quarter.

Sales declined about 1.8% to $12.26 billion, but beat analysts' average estimate of $11.77 billion.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. offered further proof that its turnaround has taken hold, reporting a 61% increase in fourth quarter profit amid strong same-store sales growth across its banners. The results end a strong year for the chain, which also said it was increasing its dividend by 20%.

Fort Meyers, Fla. -- Chico's FAS’ fiscal fourth quarter net income rose 26%, helped by new store openings and the same of more items at full price. The quarter also had an extra week of sales.

Chico’s earned $31.5 million for the 14 weeks ended Feb. 2, compared with $25.1 million in the 13-week period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 15% to $651.9 million, from $569.2 million. Wall Street analysts had expected higher revenue of $666.1 million.

Same-store sales rose 3.7%.  

By Sandy Skrovan, U.S. research director, Planet Retail

Framingham, Mass. -- The TJX Cos. reported Wednesday a profit of $604.8 million for the quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with $475.3 million in the year-ago period. Despite the strong showing, TJX forecast a slowed growth pace for the new fiscal year and issued a profit forecast below analysts’ expectations. And joining many other retailers, the company announced that beginning with the fiscal 2014 second quarter, it will no longer report monthly sales.