eCommerce

A compressed shopping season coupled with the continued growth of e-commerce has UPS forecasting that peak season daily package volumes will grow by 8%.

New York — GRK Fresh, a fast-casual Greek restaurant located at 111 Fulton Street, has signed a lease for its second Manhattan location at 451 Lexington Avenue in the Grand Central area. The new GRK Fresh will span 2,150 sq. ft.

Winick Realty Group represented GRK Fresh in its search for a Midtown location. CBRE Group represented the landlord — Landlord Regency Development.

Columbus, Ohio – Lane Bryant opens three new locations and a relocated store on Oct. 25. The stores are all located at shopping centers.
    
The new stores are located at Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Monroeville, Pa., Rushmore Shopping Center in Rapid City, S.D., and Commons at Magnolia in Florence, S.C. Lane Bryant also opens a relocated store outside of The Promenade at Millcreek Mall in Erie, Penn. on Oct. 25.

Mountain View, Calif. – Coupons.com Inc. has hired Mir Aamir, former president of loyalty and digital technologies at Safeway Inc., as the company’s COO and CFO. Aamir brings more than 18 years of finance, strategy and operating experience, primarily in the retail CPG industries.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Samsung Electronics Canada is opening 90 new format Samsung Experience Shops  in partnership with Best Buy Canada and Future Shop.  
 
The company plans to expand its Canadian retail footprint with the opening of two freestanding Samsung Experience Stores, one in Edmonton, Alberta, and the other Richmond, B.C. All retail locations are scheduled to open by spring 2014.

Amazon.com continued to lose money during its third quarter, although considerably less than a year ago, as its sales advanced 24% to more than $17 billion.

After the market closed on Thursday, Amazon reported a net loss of $41 million, or nine cents a share, during the quarter ended September 30, versus a net loss the prior year of $274 million, or 60 cents a share. The reduced loss coupled with sales of $17. 1 billion which exceeded analysts’ estimate of $16.8 billion caused shares to surge in after hours trading.

New York -- Sephora announced Thursday that Calvin McDonald has been named president and CEO of Sephora Americas, effective Jan. 1, 2014.

McDonald, who previously served as president and CEO of Sears Canada, succeeds David Suliteanu.

Suliteanu, who has helmed Sephora Americas since July 2000, will become CEO of Kendo Brands, which is owned by Sephora's parent, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.

A unique perspective into the holiday season was provided by leading payments processor Vantiv when the company reported strong third quarter results but expressed reservations about the volume of activity during the fourth quarter.

The company said its third quarter revenues increase 14% to $532 million and net income on an adjusted basis increase 17% to $80 million compared to $68.1 million while adjusted earnings per share increased 25% to 40 cents from 32 cents.