eCommerce

New York – Activist investor fund Starboard Value has reportedly purchased a 6% stake in Staples Inc. and upped its ownership of Office Depot from 8.6% to 10%. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starboard Value may be positioning itself to pressure the two office supply retailers to merge.  

  Vancouver, Canada – Net earnings at Lululemon Athletica Inc. fell 8% to $60.45 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $66.11 million a year earlier to increases in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses and cost of goods sold.    Net revenue fared better, rising 10% to $419.4 million from $379.9 million. Same-store sales fell 3% but total comparable sales, including direct-to-consumer revenue, climbed 3%.

RadioShack CEO Joe Magnacca contends the company’s core strategies are working even though evidence of the success was hard to see between a steep third quarter loss and double digit same store sales decline.

Same store sales were down 13.4% in the third quarter ending Nov. 1, driven by traffic declines and soft performance in the mobility business, the company said. Total sales and operating revenue were $650.2 million, compared with $775.4 million last year.

Purchase, N.Y. – A decline in the price of gasoline may be leading to a larger haul for many many people on Christmas morning. According to the latest MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, total retail sales without the automotive and gasoline sectors were up 3.6% in November 2014, reinforcing the dramatic decline in gasoline prices.  

Austin, Texas - Business software solution provider Epicor Software Corp. has agreed to acquire Atlanta-based ShopVisible LLC, a provider of cloud retail order management and digital commerce solutions. The acquisition of ShopVisible, expected to close by the end of the year, will expand Epicor’s position as a provider of extended omni-channel solutions for midsize and large retail chains.   

Hangzhou, China – A security flaw in AliExpress, an online marketplace that allows international consumers to make purchases on the Alibaba e-commerce platform, reportedly could have exposed personal information of millions of users to hackers. According to CNBC, Israeli security AppSec Labs discovered the flaw, which would have allowed hackers to alter orders and also gain access to customer personal and financial data, not including credit card numbers.  

SIDNEY, Neb. - Cabela’s Inc. announced today plans to open a 72,000-sq.-ft. store in Farmington, Utah.  Construction is scheduled to begin in 2015, and Cabela’s anticipates a spring 2016.   The store will be located in the newly planned Park Lane Commons development adjacent to Station Park on the west side of Interstate   

The globalization of Walmart’s domestic operations continued this week with the appointment of Judith McKenna to the role of chief operating office for Walmart U.S.