eCommerce

New York -- eBay is about to launch a shipping club that seems somewhat fashioned after Amazon Prime — but it’s not starting out in the United States.

The company will debut its shipping program in Germany, The Street reported. Called eBay Plus, it will reportedly cost 19.90 euros (about $22) a year and will allow buyers to receive certain orders within two days plus free returns.

Cincinnati -- For almost 12 years, Kroger has reported same-store sales growth every quarter. And they did it again Friday.

The supermarket giant reported net earnings of $433 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, and identical supermarket sales growth, without fuel, of 5.3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2015.
 

More and more consumers are browsing, creating baskets and making purchases from their smartphones, according to the latest Demandware Shopping Index.

Globally, phones accounted for 94% of the year over year increase in e-commerce traffic, 74% of the increase in basket creation and 47% of the order growth.

New York -- Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, was named “Retailer of the Year” at the World Retail Awards gala dinner in Rome, Italy.

New York -- In another indication of its growth aspirations, 99 Cents Only named a former high ranking Kroger executive president and CEO. The hiring comes just months after the retailer tapped former Walmart executives to fill the head merchant and CFO roles at the 389-store retailer.

Former Kroger and Procter & Gamble executive Geoffrey Covert, 64, was named president and CEO at 99 Cents Only on Sept. 11, filling a position that had been held on an interim basis the past four months by board chairman Andrew Giancamilli.    

New York -- As Target Corp. continues its transformation under CEO Brian Cornell, news came out that the retailer is not renewing its contract with licensed apparel company Cherokee.

Dependent on Target for 43% of its revenue, Cherokee Global Brand saw its market value obliterated after it disclosed Target would not renew the decades-old relationship.

Philadelphia – U.S. e-commerce showed signs of vitality in the second quarter of 2015.

According to a new study from Monetate, conversion rates, average order value (AOV), and revenue per session all made quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year improvements.

This demonstrates a trend toward recovery compared to first quarter 2015 when there were steady declines across these key metrics.

Michael McCarthy spent 28 years at Sears Holdings before leaving the company in 2011, but now he’s back in new senior level role at the Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores.