eCommerce

San Jose, Calif. – EBay Inc. is reportedly targeting customers in 19 Latin American countries with tailored Spanish- and Portuguese-language e-commerce sites. According to Bloomberg, the sites will conduct transactions in local currencies and serve customers in countries including Mexico and Brazil.

Dallas -- J.C. Penney topped expectations for the first quarter, reporting a 6.2% increase in same-store sales that easily topped views. Revenue for the quarter, which ended May 3, rose to $2.80 billion, above the $2.71 billion analysts expected, up from $2.64 billion in the year-ago period.  

It was the second consecutive month of same-store sales gains for Penney, and the retailer said sales improved sequentially each month within the quarter.

Penney lost $352 million for the quarter, not as much as analysts expected.

Ottawa, Canada - Amazon.com was the predominant low-price leader in several product categories from January through early April 2014. 360pi compared the pricing strategies of the industry’s top retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Costco and others, all based off of Amazon’s own product assortment relative to other retailers in power drills, televisions and outdoor gear.

Tampa, Fla. - CoreMedia, a web content management (WCM) company, has released CoreMedia LiveContext 2.0, a next-generation digital engagement application integrated with IBM WebSphere Commerce that empowers e-commerce and marketing professionals to transform their online stores with deeper, more visually appealing and immersive experiences.

By Kathy Gersch, executive VP, Kotter International

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company is expanding its presence in Latin America, with plans to open locations in Colombia, Bolivia and Panama.

Starbucks said it is on track to open its first store in Colombia, in the city of Bogota, in mid-summer 2014 through a joint venture between two of its longest-term business partners in the Latin America region – Alsea and Grupo Nutresa. During the next five years, the joint venture plans to expand aggressively in Bogota and to other major cities in Colombia.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holdings Corp. on Wednesday confirmed it is exploring strategic options for its 51% interest in Sears Canada Inc., including a sale. To assist in its efforts, the retailer said it will hire to an investment banking firm.

Sears Canada's board of directors and management intend to cooperate fully with Sears Holdings in this process. Net loss attributable to Sears Holdings’ shareholders was $358 million and $1.4 billion, respectively, for the fourth quarter and full year of 2013.

At a time when sluggish-to-modest industry numbers have seemingly become the norm, and a protracted economic recovery inches forward, the recent spate of seemingly good retail and economic news has industry analysts and observers like myself raising a collective eyebrow.