eCommerce

PORTLAND, Maine -- The Body Shop launched a new earth-friendly eGift Card service powered by CashStar, a digital gifting and incentives company. Customers can now  purchase and send personalized eGift Cards to family and friends for redemption online or at any of the thousands of The Body Shop stores across the United States and Canada.
 

New York -- Coach Inc. reported Tuesday that profit for the quarter ended Sept. 29 rose 3% to $221.4 million, compared with $215 million for the same period last year and beating Wall Street expectations.

Sales surged 11% to $1.16 billion, in line with forecasts, and same-store sales in North America rose 11%, bolstering the luxury retailer’s results for the quarter. In China, same-store sales also rose by double-digits.

Miami Beach, Fla.-based Savitar Realty Advisors has nearly completed its transformation of the legendary Lincoln Theatre in the heart of South Beach from a historic movie theater and symphony hall into a 35,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use building located on the pedestrian promenade known as the Lincoln Road Mall.

The modern retail establishment scheduled to open in November will house H&M’s 30,000-sq.-ft. flagship store as well as a number of other smaller tenants including Swatch, Sabon, 4D Gelato and 100 Montaditos, a Spanish tapas and sandwich style restaurant.

General Growth Properties’ Fashion Place shopping center in Murray, Utah, celebrated “Fashion Place Day” on Oct. 15 to commemorate the mall’s 40-year history.

A 15-ft. Mall of Memories wall marked the occasion, and was accompanied by a mayoral declaration and a week of special offers, giveaways, retro fashion shows and a mall-wide birthday party honoring 40 kids affected by cancer.

“We think Fashion Place looks fabulous for being 40,” said Natalie Watson, Fashion Place senior marketing manager.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. said Tuesday it will sell its $5.9 billion credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group.

The business will be sold for an amount equal to the gross value of the outstanding receivables at the time of closing, said Target; the portfolio currently has a gross value of about $5.9 billion.

TD Bank also agreed to a seven-year deal to underwrite, fund and own the retailer’s future credit card and Visa receivables in the U.S.

Las Vegas -- Tatyana Designs opened its 10th Bettie Page store, on Newbury Street in Boston.

“We are confident that our new Boston location will track the success of our other nine company-owned outlets all located in prime 'street' or up-scale mall locations. We are looking at additional East Coast locations as we aggressively pursue our growth strategy," said Tatyana Designs co-CEO Jan Glaser.

New York -- Kate Spade New York said Tuesday it is unveiling a new apparel and accessories brand, Kate Spade Saturday, which will officially launch in Japan in February 2013 through e-commerce at Saturday.jp and a flagship store in Tokyo.

The company said the brand, which is based on the spirit of Saturday seven days a week, is expected to launch exclusively online at www.saturday.com in the U.S. in spring 2013. A selection of product from the spring 2013 launch collection will be sold on fab.com prior to the U.S. launch.

Dallas -- A survey released Tuesday by Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., found that online companies are expecting the 2012 holiday shopping season to be better than last year.

According to the Chase Paymentech eHoliday Shopping Monitor, 59% of e-commerce companies surveyed expect better sales volume this season than in 2011, while almost half (47%) expect it to be better than pre-recession levels in 2007.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma announced that its West Elm division will launch a neighborhood market format, called West Elm Market, on Oct. 25, in Brooklyn N.Y. The Brooklyn store will be followed by the opening of eight Market in-store shops in West Elm stores across the country.

Sarasota, Fla. – Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers and Sarasota, Fla.-based Benderson Development Co. announced the ground breaking on a $315-million, 880,000-sq.-ft. shopping center in Sarasota, Fla.

The Mall at University Town Center will be a two-level enclosed mall anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, Dillard’s and Macy’s, and featuring more than 100 specialty stores and restaurants.

The Mall at University Town Center is scheduled to open in Oct. 2014.