eCommerce

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open four new locations in the greater Chicago area on March 8, 2014. These openings bring the total number of Chicago area stores to 35 for the retailer.

The Woodlands, Texas – Conn’s Inc. released preliminary fourth quarter net sales and same-store sales results for its retail segment that suggest strong financial performance. On a year-over-year basis, Conn’s net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 were an estimated $301.6 million, increasing $93.3 million, or 44.8%, from the same period last year.

Walmart knew fourth quarter results announced Thursday morning were going to be bad and its outlook weak so it gave investors something more substantial to digest by announcing plans to double the number of small format stores it will open this year and an increased omnichannel focus.

Kirkland's SVP of logistics Todd Weier plans to leave the company. The company has begun a search for a new logistics leader.

HSNi ended 2013 with record customer levels at its HSN and Cornerstone brands, which bolstered the company’s fourth-quarter results.

The company’s total net sales grew 4% over the prior year to $1 billion.

Walmart shareholders have gotten spoiled by some hefty dividend increases in recent years, but that won’t be the case in 2014 when the annual payout rises a meager 2%.

Walmart announced the dividend increase in conjunction with the release of uncharacteristically disappointing financial results. The company increased the annual payout to $1.92 from $1.88 last year, making the 2% increase the smallest amount of the past decade.

One of the bright spots in Walmart’s otherwise dismal fourth quarter was an online business that grew 30% to $10 billion and is forecast to exceed $13 billion this year.

Every executive participating in the company’s prerecorded earnings call Thursday morning spoke in some form or fashion about key digital initiatives and Walmart’s unique capabilities in the area of e-commerce. For example, Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon sees an environment in which the company has the potential to create transformative growth in global e-commerce and mobile commerce.

Rapid expansion of Nordstrom Rack stores and strong sales at the off price division enabled the department store retailer to exceed its fourth quarter profit forecast.

The company said same store sales at Rack increased 3.6% on top of a price year increase of 7.1% while sales at full line stores declined 3.3% after increasing 2.2% last year.

New York -- Traditional retail categories are increasingly blurring, and more and more shoppers are turning to drug stores and other types of outlets to buy groceries, according to a survey of Millenial, Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers. The study was conducted by retail design firm King Retail Solutions in conjunction with the University of Arizona Center for Retailing.

New York -- Shopzilla Inc. has acquired Connexity, a demand-side platform. Shopzilla manages online shopping brands in the United States and Europe, such as Bizrate, Beso, Shopzilla, Retrevo, TaDa, PrixMoinsCher, and SparDeinGeld, as well as a series of B2B businesses.

Shopzilla said it would link Connexity’s programmatic media-buying platform to its Aisle A division, which specializes in audience-buying.