eCommerce

Popularity and resale value do not always correlate when it comes to gift cards.

Visa is tops in a ranking of the gift cards expected to be most popular this holiday season.

Rounding out the top 10: American Express; iTunes; Wal-Mart; Target; Starbucks; Netflix; eBay and Google Play. The ranking is from CardHub, a credit card comparison Web site owned by Evolution Finance.

Macerich announces the recent arrival of several retailers to Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls located in Niagara Falls, New York. New brands include Victoria’s Secret, Kipling, Columbia Sportswear, Mountain Warehouse and Calvin Klein Underwear.

Niagara Falls recent expansion brings the property size to more than 700,000 sq. ft. with a total of 200 stores and 1,100 additional parking spaces near Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH – making Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls one of the largest outlet malls in the country.

Target is embarking on its most omnichannel holiday season ever with more services designed to add convenience and value for shoppers.

In a new blog post and infographic posted on Target.com, the retailer details how the intersection between stores and mobile play a big role in the Target shopping experience: Nearly 25 percent of Target.com sales will be fulfilled by a store, either through Order Pickup or shipping from a store.

Target recently introduced two new "click-and-mortar" features designed to improve the shopping experience.

Their merger isn’t expect to close until-mid 2016, but Ahold and Delhaize Group have named more senior executives to interesting new roles to lead the combined company.

Ahold and Delhaize Group announced more members of the proposed executive committee of the combined company to be known as Ahold Delhaize. As previously announced in June, the proposed Ahold Delhaize management board consists of CEO Dick Boer, Deputy CEO and Chief Integration Officer Frans Muller, CFO Jeff Carr, COO Europe Pierre Bouchut, COO USA Kevin Holt, and COO USA James McCann.

Photo: left: Adam Zimel; right: Micah Kagan

Getting Dense

Home goods and Sephora helped JCPenney turn the page on the next chapter of its story of transformation by exceeding top-line growth expectations in the third quarter.

For its third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company reported net sales of $2.90 billion compared to $2.76 billion in the third quarter of 2014. Same store sales increased 6.4 % for the period. JCPenney cut its loss by 27% to $137 million, or 45 cents a share. Total sales increased 4.8 percent to $2.9 billion versus $2.76 billion last year.

Amazon.com has been busy expanding its same-day Prime delivery options across the U.S., and now it is hopping the pond.

Amazon U.K. has launched Amazon Pantry, a nationwide service for Prime members. Amazon Pantry offers more than 4,000 everyday grocery items, including food and drink, household supplies, baby and child care, pet, and health and beauty products.