eCommerce

Safeway digested an unprecedented amount of change during the second quarter and still managed to achieve solid profit improvement and a respectable amount of sales growth while strengthening its balance sheet.

Average spending per school age child is expected to decline this year from 2012 levels, according to the National Retail Federation, setting the stage for heightened competition in an already intensely competitive seasonal selling period.

NRF said spending per child in grades K-12 would decline to $634 in 2013 compared to $688 last year and spending per college student would decline to $836 from $907. The trade group forecast total K-12 spending of $26.7 billion and total back-to-college spending of $45.8 billion for a combined market size of $72.5 billion.

Salt Lake City – Overstock.com reported substantial increases in net revenue and income for the second quarter of this year. Total net revenue for second quarter 2013 and 2012 was $293.2 million and $239.5 million, respectively, a 22% increase. The growth in net revenue was primarily due to a 21% increase in average order size, from $138 in second quarter 2012 to $167 in second quarter 2013.

Net income jumped an impressive 687%, from $470,000 to $3.7 million.

The future of multichannel commerce at Walmart will be detailed next week in the mountains of Colorado where the retailer’s two top digital executives are scheduled to participate in a conference hosted by Fortune.

The exclusive — and sold out — three day event held at the Aspen Institute and will feature Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Walmart Global eCommerce and Karenann Terrell, EVP and chief information officer, discussing the topic of, “How does technology fuel the success of both on-and offline at the world’s largest retailer.”

Charlotte, N.C. -- Regional shopping center company Crosland Southeast has acquired 24 former Blockbuster stores from Blockbuster Corporate, spanning North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee and Florida. Blockbuster vacated all stores at closing, and Crosland Southeast has already sold 11 of the 24.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu reported net sales of $5.2 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2014, down 1.5%, and net earnings of $85 million, or $0.34 per diluted share. 

The decrease in net sales primarily reflects a decline in identical store sales of negative 3% percent for retail food and negative 1.9% for Save-A-Lot. Identical store sales for corporately operated stores within the Save-A-Lot network were negative 1.2%.

SALT LAKE CITY — Overstock.com reported net revenue of $293.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, a 22% increase from $239.5 million for the same quarter last year. The growth in net revenue was primarily due to a 21% increase in average order size.

Dick's Sporting Goods plans to open its first Field & Stream branded store this August in Cranberry Township, Pa., as part of the company's ongoing strategy to drive growth with speciality store concepts. The company also recently opened its first True Runner speciality store in its hometown of Pittsburgh.