eCommerce

Washington, D.C. -- The average person celebrating Easter this year will spend $140.62, slightly more than last year’s $137.46, according to the National Retail Federation’s Easter Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Total spending for Easter is expected to reach $16.4 billion.

New York -- Fresh & Easy plans to close 55 stores, which would leave the chain with about 110 locations, the Orange Country Register reported. Fresh & Easy is owned by the Yucaipa Cos., which bought the supermarket chain out of bankruptcy in 2013 from U.K. retailer Tesco. It operates stores in Nevada, California and Arizona.

The stores slated for closing do not meet Fresh & Easy’s new model of “modern convenience.”

Outdoor retailer REI reached new heights in 2014 thanks to unprecedented membership growth which fueled a 4.2% same store sales increase and a record financial performance.

The same store sales increased and addition of seven new stores helped the company increase total sales 9.9% to $2.2 billion. The company ended the year with 5.5 million active members, 945,000 of whom joined the retail cooperative in 2014.

San Jose, Calif. -- EBay Inc. on Monday announced it has appointed two independent directors to its board as it prepares for the spinoff of its payments division, PayPal, in the second half of this year.

Ebay appointed Tony Bates, president of action camera maker GoPro, and Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, to its board.

San Francisco – Electronic payment provider Square Inc. is extending its Square Cash e-checking service to businesses. Square is launching Square Cash Pro for Business as an offshoot of its Square Cash personal e-checking service, introduced in 2013.

Retailers using Cash Pro can accept payments from any Cash customer through the Cash app, via email, with $Cashtags, or online from Cash.me. $Cashtags allow businesses to accept electronic payments without revealing an email address or phone number.

Digital-first doesn’t mean digital-only. At least not anymore. Some brands have already embraced that lesson in a bold way, and many others are taking notice.

Wayne, N.J. -- Toys “R” Us Inc. swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, amid a major restructuring initiative that looks to cut up to another $175 million in expenses.

Cost-cutting efforts ongoing at Toys “R” Us Inc. helped the retailer report a profit in the fourth quarter.

Overall, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, Toys “R” Us reported a profit of $265 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $210 million.