eCommerce

NEW YORK — Macy's announced that it will offer international shipping on its e-commerce site, Macys.com, to 91 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America. 

FiftyOne, a provider of international e-commerce services and infrastructure to U.S. retailers, has partnered with Macy's to implement the shipping process.

The most recent iteration of a pricing study conducted by Credit Suisse shows Target was 4.7% more expensive on a basket of items in Chicago and Dallas compared with 4% the prior month. 

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us announced that it will offer an exclusive collection of toys based on the animated short Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation, playing in theaters in conjunction with Cars 2.

Examples in the line include:

• Sheriff Woody 16-inch action figure dressed in Hawaiian shirt, straw hat and lei. The toy can say 20 phrases when kids pull the string on his back and plays Hawaiin music.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target last week announced that Target Canada has reached an agreement to transfer to Walmart Canada the leasehold interests in up to 39 sites, currently operated by Zellers.

Specific locations will be identified later this fall. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

CINCINNATI — Kroger CEO David Dillon said the company will continue to focus on customer loyalty, after reporting last week that it saw identical-store sales increase for 30 consecutive quarters.

During its shareholders meeting on Thursday, Dillon said the company will build its future growth around its Customer 1st strategy, which emphasizes "[our] people, products, prices and the shopping experience."

Walmart attracted nearly 33.6 million unique visitors to its website in May, earning the company the 29th spot on comScore’s monthly ranking of the top 50 U.S. web properties. That sounds like a lot of traffic, but 7th ranked Amazon.com drew nearly three times that level with 94.9 million unique visitors. Other notable, retail-oriented companies and their rank included 13th ranked Apple, with 70.3 million unique visitors, 14th ranked eBay, with 67.2 million unique visitors and 20th ranked Craigslist, with 51.8 million unique visitors.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Sales may have been flat overall, but a closer look revealed there was a lot to be positive about in Rite Aid’s fiscal first quarter 2012 earnings, as the company managed significant expense improvement and stronger same-store sales growth. Bottom line: Rite Aid narrowed its losses considerably, and that ain’t all expense control.

UNION, N.J. — Bed Bath & Beyond dominates the home and housewares retail space by consistently reporting strong revenue and earnings growth, and this quarter was no exception.

The company reported net earnings of 72 cents per diluted share ($180.6 million) in the fiscal first quarter ended May 28, an increase of approximately 38% versus net earnings of 52 cents per diluted share ($137.6 million) in the same quarter a year ago.