eCommerce

Industry estimates show in-store conversion rates (percentage of visitors who take the desired action to purchase) are below 30% and dropping. This means 70% of store visitors leave without buying. Never before has there been greater competition for sales and a smarter, more connected consumer base.

A merchant that grew from a small boutique in West Hollywood with a celebrity clientele to a multi-store operation is going out of business.

Kitson announced that it is closing its 17 stores, which are located in California, Oregon and Nevada. As of December 11, its e-commerce site had already been shut down.

Walmart confirmed that its CMO, Stephen Quinn, who had held executive marketing positions with the chain for 10 years, will retire in January.

Michael Francis, Target Corp.'s former marketing guru, has been hired as a consultant. Francis spent 26 years at Target and most recently served as global brand officer for DreamWorks Animation. In August, he announced that he planned to step down from Dreamworks.

So far this holiday season, consumers are turning to their desktop PCs for shopping more than ever before.

Restoration Hardware Holdings’ (RH) innovative store growth initiatives are starting to bear fruit, as the luxury home furnishings retailer reported record sales and profits in the third quarter.

For the period ended Oct. 31, the company reported net income of $20.7 million, or 49 cents per share, compared to $19.4 million for the same period last year.

Revenue increased 10% to $532.4 million, from $484.7 million in the year-ago period. It was the firm's 23rd consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth. Same-store sales increased 7%.

So far this holiday season, consumers are turning to their desktop PCs for shopping more than ever before.

According to new data from comScore, through the first 36 days of the November-December 2015 holiday season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 6), desktop spend totaled $35.36 billion. This marks a 6% increase from $33.38 billion for the equivalent period in 2014. Although rate of year-over-year growth is below the 9% previously predicted by comScore, the total figure still sets a new record.

If there was a single theme at the recently concluded ICSC Deal Making Conference in New York City, it was “possibilities.” New projects, new ideas, new trends and a sense of optimism were on display.

Weak traffic at Saks 5th Avenue stores did not keep Hudson's Bay Company from reporting higher sales and profit in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company posted a profit of $1 million, compared with a $13 million loss a year earlier. Total sales increased 34% to $2.57 billion, up from $1.91 billion. Consolidated sales growth was 34.1%, up $653 million from prior year with same-store sales growth of 12.9%. But Saks Fifth Avenue logged a same store sales decrease of 3.6%.