eCommerce

Houston -- In a deal that will create a national specialty bedding retail powerhouse, Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has agreed to acquire rival The Sleep Train Inc. for about  $425 million. As part of the deal, Mattress Firm said that it will also assume certain additional liabilities totaling about $15 million.

Sleep Train operates approximately 310 specialty mattress stores, primarily in California, Oregon, and other Western states. It reported net sales of $471 million for the 2013 fiscal year.

Amazon has rolled out KDP Kids, a program designed to help children’s book authors prepare, publish and promote both illustrated and chapter books in Kindle Stores worldwide.

Children’s book authors can use Amazon’s new Kindle Kids’ Book Creator tool to create illustrated children’s books that take advantage of Kindle features like text popups. Once the book is ready, authors can upload it to KDP, and use KDP’s category, age and grade range filters to help Amazon customers choose the right books for their kids.

New York -- Tiffany & Co. announced that it has named Jill Beraud as an executive VP, effective Oct. 13. She will have responsibility for global retail operations including all sales channels in every region, as well as oversight of strategic store development and real estate.

Beraud will report to Frederic Cumenal, president, who, as previously announced, will become Tiffany’s CEO effective April 1, 2015.

Beraud, 54, joins Tiffany from Living Proof where she has been CEO since 2011.

Minneapolis – Women’s specialty retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. swung to a profit of $3.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to a net loss of $285,000 in the prior year period. Higher pretax income and income operating, as well as a tax benefit, helped push Christopher & Banks into the black.

A strong performance at Stein Mart’s Texas locations in August helped to offset sales at the retailer’s more challenged Gulf state locations.

Total sales for month were $86.5 million, a 3.8% increase over total sales of $83.3 million for August last year. Comparable store sales for the month increased 2.5% from comparable store sales for August last year.

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. on Thursday reported that its revenue for the fourth-quarter climbed 9% to $34.8 billion. Total same-store sales, excluding negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, increased 7%.

Costco plans to open nine new warehouse stores before the end of calendar year 2014.

During the full fiscal year 2014, Costco reported a 7% jump in net sales to $110.2 million from $102.9 million. Total same-store sales rose 6%.  

Speed Commerce, a leading provider of omnichannel e-commerce services, has appointed former Oracle executive Mark Steele as the company's VP of global sales and marketing.

Steele boasts more than two decades of sales experience with a proven track record of success in firms ranging from Global Fortune 100 to early and mid-stage venture backed startups.