eCommerce

Specialty retailer Five Below is searching for a seasoned retail executive to fill the role of president to execute an aggressive growth strategy following the departure of chief operating officer David Johnston.

Webster, Texas -- Seattle-based Nordstrom will add a new Nordstrom Rack location in the Houston area, opening a 31,000-sq.-ft. store in spring 2015 at Baybrook Square in Webster, Texas.

The Baybrook Square Rack will be the fourth Houston-area off-price store for Nordstrom. In July the company announced plans to open a third Rack location at Willowbrook Mall in fall 2014.

The new Nordstrom Rack will move into a space currently occupied by DSW, which is relocating within the center. Baybrook Square is managed by Fidelis Realty Partners.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is getting ready to expand its rapidly evolving online beauty business with its planned acquisition of the DermStore Beauty Group. 

New York -- Tween apparel retailer Delia’s has hired Daphne Smith as the company’s executive VP operations, reporting to CEO Tracy Gardner.

Smith was previously with J. Crew for 16 years, working in various roles including senior VP of direct. She has spent the past 18 months at New York & Company as the company’s senior VP e-commerce.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. announced plans to acquire online beauty retailer DermStore for an undisclosed sum.

The move will allow Target to further tap into the online beauty market, as well as continue its trend toward acquiring specialty businesses to ramp up its presence in various niche markets. In March, Target announced its acquisition of Chefs Catalog and Cooking.com in two separate transactions to create a subsidiary.

Naperville, Ill. – OfficeMax had a generally difficult second quarter of 2013, with declining total and same-store sales and a net loss. The retailer is also predicting more disappointing results for the upcoming two fiscal quarters.

Pittsburgh – American Eagle Outfitters is lowering its earnings outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2013 due to what the retailer characterizes as weak sales and margins. The company now forecasts earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter of about $0.10, down significantly from $0.21 in the second quarter of last year.

Global luxury lifestyle brand Michael Kors Holdings Limited had an exceptional fiscal 2014 first quarter ended June 29 with a total revenue of $641 million, a 54.5% increase from $414.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013.

Retail net sales increased 51.5% to $325.7 million driven by a 27.3% increase in comparable store sales and 75 net new store openings since the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Wholesale net sales increased 59.3% to $290.6 million and licensing revenue increased 40.7% to $24.6 million.