eCommerce

Framingham, Mass. - Staples Inc. on Wednesday reported that its third quarter net income rose 60% to $216.8, in line with Wall Street expectations, amid signs that its reinvention strategy is starting to take hold.  

Some of the biggest names in the retail industry have partnered with a new online shopping and fundraising platform called iMyne, which aims to make it easy for consumers to earn money and give to their favorite causes after shopping online.

Like other rewards sites, imyne.com gives shoppers the option of earning cash back. But it also allows them to send their cash back to charitable causes. Top retailers such as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Target, Sears, Home Depot, Gap, Best Buy, Saks, Zappos and more have all signed up as retail partners.

Zappos.com says it will celebrate Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend by donating 10 meals per order placed on Zappos.com in partnership with Feeding America, the leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

The company says the objective of its Fast, Free Giving effort is to give back this holiday season and for consumers to put their dollars behind more than just holiday gifts: to help those most in need, too.

Toronto — Hudson’s Bay Company announced the appointment of Jon K. Nordeen to the position of CIO, effective November 2014.
  Nordeen joins HBC with more than 25 years of information systems and management experience. Most recently, he served at Kohl’s Department Stores in several roles including executive VP merchandise planning, executive VP administration, and executive VP CIO.
 

New York - Total retail sales in the United States  will rise 5% to reach $862 billion during November and December this year, according to the latest forecast from eMarketer.  Among the biggest trends to watch will be the acceleration in online sales, which are expected to grow at  16.6% year over year to reach $72.41 billion, or 8.4% of all retail purchases this holiday season. It’s a considerable uptick from 2013, when online sales totaled 7.6% of all holiday retail purchases.

CINCINNATI - Americans are divided on the merits of shopping on Thanksgiving Day.  The latest LoyaltyOne research shows there are three kinds of American Thanksgiving Day shoppers:  50% who say all-day shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day are a bad idea; 33% who say stores being open all day Thanksgiving is a great idea that provides more time for holiday gift shopping and 17% who can’t make up their mind.

It took a heightened level of promotional activity to drive marginally better than expected third quarter same store sales growth at Target’s U.S. stores while losses in Canada were less severe than the prior year.

Same stores sales declined again at Staples North American retail stores in the third quarter, but chairman and CEO Ron Sargent contends the company is gaining momentum on a reinvention strategy.

Sargent is being generous with his usage of the word momentum to describe the performance of the nation’s leading office supplies retailer. The third quarter revealed persistent weakness in retail operations and the international business offset by modest growth in the commercial business.