eCommerce

SALT LAKE CITY — Online discount retailer Overstock.com held its annual meeting and made changes to its board of directors.

Stockholders re-elected Joseph J. Tabacco and elected Jonathan E. Johnson III to the company's board for terms of three years each. The board also named Johnson as its new executive vice chairman.

Walmart continues its superhero streak and courting comic book fans onto its website via social media — this time the superhero in question is Marvel’s billionaire badboy and Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark. 

The discount retailer posted a photo of Iron Man 3 to its Facebook page Monday, April 29, emblazoned with a burst bearing the Walmart logo and urging fans to ‘Preorder Now,’ even though the film did not release in theaters until Friday, May 3. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass. -- WS Development announced that it will develop an outlet center in Cheshire, Conn. WS Development will introduce leading fashion and designer outlet stores to the 500,000 -sq.-ft. project, which is expected to open in summer 2015.

This open-air shopping, dining and entertainment complex will also include public open space, walkways, recreation amenities, a residential component and full service grocer.

New York -- Foot Locker Inc. said Wednesday that it will buy German athletic store chain Runners Point Warenhandelsges (RPG) for 72 million euros ($94 million) as it expands in Europe.  
 
RPG, which had sales of $254 million for 2012, operates more than 200 stores — with its most prominent banners being Runners Point and Sidestep — as well as an online subsidiary, Tredex. Most its stores are in Germany, although there are also Runners Point and Sidestep locations in The Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland.

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NEW YORK — Foot Locker has started the ball rolling toward acquiring Runners Point Warenhandelsges, a specialty athletic store and online retailer based in Recklinghausen, Germany, for a total cash consideration of approximately $94 million. 

Total U.S. Shopper Traffic in Retail Stores and Malls for April 2013

An expected post-Easter decline in shopper activity was compounded by unseasonably cold weather last month. Retail foot traffic decreased 10.1 percent in April compared to March 2013, deviating from previous positive month-over-month retail traffic trends. Foot traffic for April 2013 decreased 0.4 percent compared to the same month in 2012. 

Research from DeWalt found that 650 out of 1,000 pros were aware of DeWalt mechanic tools. That's pretty good awareness. But DeWalt didn't have mechanics tools at the time of the survey.

It does now. And a partnership with Sears is bringing DeWalt wrenches, ratchets, sockets and mechanics tool sets online and in Sears stores in time for Father's Day.

DeWalt and Sears executives announced the news during a presentation at the National Hardware Show here at the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

EDISON, N.J. — Bare Necessities, an online specialty retailer of women's and men's branded and designer intimate apparel and lingerie, has launched an interactive look book showcasing Wacoal’s intimates to entice tech-savvy shoppers with smartphones and tablets.