eCommerce

Whole Foods is aiming to make life for customers in 15 cities a little more convenient. The company has entered into a partnership with grocery delivery service Instacart that enables customers to have Whole Foods Market products delivered to them in one hour.

Customers will soon also be able to place orders via Instacart and pick them up local participating Whole Foods Market stores, making Whole Foods the first national Instacart partner to offer the in-store pickup service.

Pittsburgh - For the first time ever, the majority of consumers are visiting retail websites on smartphones and tablets rather than on traditional desktop and laptop computers. According to Branding Brand's Mobile Commerce Index report, in August 2014, mobile devices generated 51% of all online retail visits, the majority of which occurred on Apple devices.

New York -- Twitter announced on Monday that it has started testing a “buy” button embedded in posts that allow users to buy a product with a couple of clicks. The test comes at a time when competition in mobile e-commerce is growing. Facebook has been testing a “buy” button on its platform since July, and Apple is expected to debut a phone-based payment system on Tuesday as part of the newest version of its iPhone.

The Children's Place has appointed Robert Vill as group VP of finance. He will report to Michael Scarpa, chief operating officer and CFO.

"Bob brings to The Children's Place a wealth of financial expertise in the areas of corporate finance, treasury and investor relations," Scarpa said. "I am very pleased to welcome him to our team."

Saks Fifth Avenue is launching a new user-generated content hub on its e-commerce site. Called #SaksStyle and based on the Curalate Fanreel image integration platform, #SaksStyle allows customers to display photos from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr in a social shopping environment.

Here are three reasons to like (and very possibly emulate) what Saks is doing with its latest social venture.

West Berlin, N.J. - E Z Pantry Inc. is expanding its grocery shopping and delivery service to senior citizens and the disabled community. With this grocery delivery service, customers in the South Jersey area including Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester counties can call in their orders and have their food delivered the next day.

Toronto - Staples Canada is expanding its Bullfrog Power partnership to support renewable energy in four additional stores. Through the partnership, Bullfrog Power injects clean, renewable electricity onto the grid to match the amount of energy the Staples facilities use.

The increasingly competitive yoga apparel category just got a little more crowded. Sports Authority has launched an exclusive yoga line called Bloom, which it says it created specifically for women who enjoy being connected to the outdoors.