eCommerce

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart Stores on Wednesday announced that Judith McKenna has been promoted to COO for Walmart U.S. McKenna succeeds Gisel Ruiz, who has been appointed EVP of Walmart’s International People Division.    McKenna will assume her responsibilities immediately and will continue to report directly to Walmart U.S. president and CEO, Greg Foran. Ruiz will also assume her responsibilities immediately and will report to Walmart International president and CEO, David Cheesewright.   

New York - Amazon is testing new features, one for the way it delivers goods, and the other a new pricing option that enables shoppers to haggle directly with third-party marketplace sellers for lower prices.    The online giant is testing bike messengers deliveries in New York City, according to various media reports.    

Issaquah, Wash. – Costco Wholesale Corp. beat Wall Street expectations for net income and sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2015.  Net income totaled $496 million, up 17% from $425 million the same period a year earlier.   Lower opening expenses and higher interest income helped boost profits.   Total revenue grew 7% to $26.87 million from $25.02 million. Total same-store sales rose 5%.

New York – Omnichannel specialty bath and beauty product brand Sabon boosted its online sales 35% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday by implementing Dynamic Yield’s personalization engine. Sabon saw lifts across key metrics including user engagement, total page views, time spent on site and sales.  

Melville, New York - A&G Realty Partners, a commercial real estate, advisory and investment group, has been retained by Alco Stores to manage the sale of approximately 200 Alco store locations, as well as the company’s former headquarters. The sale is a result of the retailer’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on October 12, 2014.  

Plenty of retailers talk about returning cash to shareholders, but none does so as aggressively as The Buckle which just announced a whopper of a special dividend.

The Kearney, Neb.-based operator of 463 stores said it would pay a $2.77 special dividend in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 23 cents on Jan. 27 to shareholders of record on Jan. 15. It is the seventh consecutive year the debt-free specialty retailer of young men’s and women’s apparel has paid a special dividend on top of its quarterly payout.

New York - Customer engagement is becoming an ever trickier proposition. Thanks to increasing connectivity and functionality of mobile and wearable devices, today’s consumers can enter an intensely personalized, stimulating and informationally rich virtual environment at a moment’s notice. Enticing them with omnichannel promotions is no easy task.  

NEW YORK - Overall U.S. retail sales (excluding auto) are expected to grow 3%-4% in 2015 although a variety of challenges will continue to constrain the performance of several retailers and retail segments, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.   A gradual increase in the U.S. employment rate and real wages along with near-term benefits from lower gas prices will support retail sales growth.