eCommerce

The TJX Companies’ net income for the third quarter soared 35% to $622.6 million from $461.5 million in the year-ago period. The better-than-expected results prompted the company to raise its full-year guidance.

Net sales increased approximately 9% to $6.98 billion from $6.41 billion as bargain-hunting consumers flocked to its stores. Same-store sales rose 5%. The chain credited the ability of its off-price format to succeed in any economic environment as a key component of its strong quarterly performance.

Los Angeles -- Mobile shopping continues to rise, with almost one-quarter (23%) of consumers planing to shop using a mobile device this year, up 44% from 2012, according to PriceGrabber’s second Winter Holiday Survey. In addition, when respondents were asked to select all the ways they plan to shop for gifts, 88% said online from a desktop computer and 47% said they plan to visit brick and mortar stores, with 46% who plan to make fewer trips to retail stores this year.

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters’ third quarter profit increased 18%, helped by strong results at its Anthropologie and Free People divisions. The company's quarterly earnings per share and sales both in above estimates.

Urban Outfitters’ net income totaled $70.2 million, up 18% from $59.5 million.

Net sales equaled about $774 million, a 12% increase from $692.9 million. Same-store segment net sales, which include the direct-to-consumer channel, increased 7%.

New York - Forty-one percent of respondents are expecting to make purchases in-store this holiday season more often than they did last year, which should make for a busy Black Friday, according to MasterCard’s 2013 Holiday Spending Survey.

The survey also found that more than half of Americans who use their debit or credit card for holiday purchases and have a rewards program plan to cash in their points this season. Of this group, 40% will strategically spend on one card only to rack up rewards points.

In other findings:

Phoenix -- Sprouts Farmers Market has commenced an underwritten public offering of 22.5 million shares of its common stock by affiliates of Apollo Global Management and certain other stockholders of the company. The underwriters of the offering will have the option to purchase up to an additional 3.375 million shares of common stock from the selling stockholders.

Yonkers, N.Y. -- Two-thirds of shoppers will spend the same amount of money (54%) or more money (12%) than they did last year. A new Consumer Reports poll also reveals that 33% will spend less money, similar to the 37% who said the same when asked last year.

Dick’s Sporting Goods said marketing efforts, improved customer experience and selective pricing initiatives in the third quarter helped traffic which resulted in net sales of $1.4 billion for the quarter, an increase of 6.7% compared to the year-ago period.

Toronto -- Sears Canada posted a net loss of about $46.7 million USD in the third quarter of fiscal 2013, more than double the net loss of $21 million it posted in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. One-time charges of $41 million related to restructuring and asset impairment helped widen the company’s net loss.

In addition, revenues of $940.7 million were down about 6% from $1 billion. In one bright spot, same-store sales climbed 1.2%. Sears Canada is in the middle of a three-year turnaround program launched in 2012.