eCommerce

The upcoming release of “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee’s second book has caused widespread excitement, and now Barnes & Noble is looking to tap in to some of that with a special event at its stores.

Kohl's shoppers have responded so well to store pickup for online orders that the retailer is rolling out the service to all 1,164 of its stores in the United States.

San Francisco -- Americans modestly increased their spending in April, with growth across most major purchase categories, according to Visa’s Retail Spending Monitor (RSM), a quarterly report that tracks retail spending patterns based on real-time purchase data.  Retail spending in April was up 4.5% from the prior year, excluding automobile and gasoline purchases.

New York -- Off-price retailer Loehmann's announced that Jeffrey Cripe is joining the Loehmann's advisory board, as the company builds its online marketplace. Founded in 1921, the company closed its brick-and-mortar stores after its bankruptcy in 2013. Now under new ownership, the brand is being expanded online.

Stein Mart says customers responded very positively to its spring assortment, boosting same store sales for the chain up nearly 5%.

The Florida-based company, which is planning an aggressive expansion plan for 2015, says total sales for the quarter increased 7.5%.

"We are very pleased with the response our customers are having to our spring assortment," said Jay Stein, Chief Executive Officer. "Our first quarter 4.8 percent comparable store sales increase continues the trend we saw at the end of last year and is a great way to start the year."

New York -- Hip online eyewear retailer Warby Parker continues its brick-and-mortar expansion. The company has opened its 12th store to date, in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.  

The 2,200-sq.-ft. store is Warby Parker’s first permanent location in the Midwest. It joins locations in cities across the nation, including such as New York, Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Shedding light on how Walmart plans to achieve digital and physical balance in its supply chain this week was Tracy Rosser, the retailer’s senior vice president of transportation and supply chain.

Speaking at an Institute for Supply Management conference in Phoenix, Rosser elaborate on Walmart’s plans to blend its traditional pallet drive supply chain focused on serving large format stores with new distribution challenges driven by shoppers evolving fulfillment expectations. T

Seattle -- Online retailer Zulily announced today that Brian Swartz has been appointed senior VP and CFO, effective June 1, 2015.

Swartz brings more than 20 years of operational and financial experience to Zulily. For the last six years, he served as senior VP and CFO of Apollo Education Group, Inc., a private-sector education company. Swartz joined Apollo from EaglePicher Incorporated, a technology and industrial products and services company, where he served as VP and corporate controller.