eCommerce

Increased fulfillment costs and other expense pressures caused Amazon.com to report a second quarter loss of $7 million even though sales increased 22% to $15.7 billion.

The company said its sales would have increased 25% were it not for a $392 million headwind related to unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The net loss of $7 million, or two cents a share, was a reversal from the same period the prior year when a profit of $7 million, or one cent a share, was reported.

New York -- Walmart’s Silccon Valley hub, called @WalmartLabs, announced on Wednesday it has acquired Torbit, a cloud-based website acceleration company.

Walmart described Torbit as a “front-end optimization innovator that has been focused on making the web a faster and better place.” Torbit is known for developing measurement, analytics and performance improvement tools to help companies identify and enhance their overall site performance.

Dallas — Cypress Equities has acquired the Glendale Marketplace in Glendale, Calif. The 154,420-sq.-ft. open-air retail and entertainment center is adjacent to the Americana at Brand.

National retail brands represented in the center include HomeGoods, Old Navy, Starbucks, GNC and Outback Steakhouse.

SRS Real Estate Partners will represent Cypress in lease negotiations.

Pittsburgh — GNC Holdings has announced that it is expanding its retail presence in China with the opening of its first stand-alone store in Shanghai. GNC plans to open an additional 25 locations in China over the next 12 months.

The company currently operates more than 60 store-within-a-store locations in eight grocery, convenience and health and wellness chains in China.

Houston – The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. has reached an agreement to repurchase $100 million worth of common stock from JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA under an accelerated share repurchase program. The retailer will buy the shares as part of an ongoing $200 million share repurchase program announced in March of this year. Men’s Wearhouse expects to close the transaction by the end of fourth quarter 2013.

IRVING, Texas — Holiday shifts adversely affected quarter-to-date performance at Michaels Stores, which reported net sales of $631 million for the nine-week period ending July 6, a decrease of 0.1% from $631.8 million for the comparable period last fiscal year. 

Same-store sales for the same fiscal period declined 2.7%. The company's quarter-to-date performance was also adversely affected by the timing of media activity due to the impact of the 53rd week in fiscal 2012. However, as a result of the shifts, the company has seen improvement in July sales performance.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart is offering members of its Shop Your Way loyalty program a new payment option called Pay in Store. The program launches nationally this month and allows online shoppers to reserve an item for 48 hours.

British fashion retailer Oasis lets the permanent architecture do the talking at its store in Leeds, U.K. Designed as a model for international expansion, the 2, 238-sq.-ft. space was developed for ease of installation, flexibility and efficient detailing. The walls and ceiling were constructed away from the structural shell giving a fun stage-set feel while allowing elements to become standardized with less site-specific variables. The interior has the aesthetic of a Georgian house executed in a contemporary manner. (Oasis was designed by Dalziel+Pow, London.)

By Lee Peterson, wdpartners.com

Across-the-board payroll cuts have rarely delivered margins long-term for retailers. Crude cuts are more than misguided today, but a dangerous strategy for stores in the fight for survival against Amazon.

What’s your favorite department store? The experts at London-based design consultancy Dalziel+Pow have just come out with their top 10 global department store destinations. It’s an interesting list, with some familiar players, and some less so.

Here are the firm’s picks: