eCommerce

Washington, D.C. -- Nearly 158 million consumers will participate in Halloween activities this year, slightly less than the historic high of 170 million people last year. New figures from the National Retail Federation (NRF) indicate the average consumer will spend $75.03 on Halloween this year, down 6% from $79.82 last year.

However, average overall spending on Halloween has increased 54.7% since 2005, with total spending estimated to reach $6.9 billion in 2013. Other NRF figures include:

York, Pa. - The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. board of directors has unanimously elected Steven Silverstein to its board, effective immediately. Silverstein will serve on the Human Resources and Compensation Committee.

Indianapolis — Simon Property Group and Tanger Factory Outlet Centers have announced that construction has begun on Charlotte Premium Outlets. The first phase of the planned 400,000-sq.-ft. center will open in the summer of 2014. The project is a 50/50 joint venture between Simon and Tanger.

Charlotte Premium Outlets will feature Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and more than 90 other outlet stores.

Tanger is providing site development and construction supervision to the venture. Simon is providing management services and marketing.

Glendale, Calif. -- Nordstrom has unveiled its new, relocated store at Americana at Brand, the Caruso-owned luxury shopping center in Glendale, Calif.

Seattle-based Nordstrom was formerly located at nearby Glendale Galleria, but closed that store to reopen in 135,000 sq. ft. at Americana at Brand, featuring a refreshed interior design over three levels, farm-to-table restaurant Bar Verde, updated beauty experience, and an expanded selection of designer fashion brands including the first TopShop and TopMan in-store boutiques in Los Angeles.

Arlington, Va. — Forest City has acquired Macy’s Furniture Store building at the Ballston Common Mall from Macy’s. Forest City, the owner, developer and manager of the mall, plans to redevelop the property and add mixed uses including residential and office. The Home Store, which is connected to the mall on three levels, is the first step in the redevelopment.

Amsterdam, Netherlands – Staples Europe has launched a new Staples.es website aimed at helping small businesses locate and purchase products.

The site has a new look and feel and offers many new features to improve the overall shopping experience including personalized shopping with product recommendations based on customer preferences, an updated search engine and filtering tools, streamlined reordering for frequently used products, and quick checkout with a mini-cart that designed to ease inserting coupons, saving addresses and reviewing orders.

Pooler, Ga. — With the addition of seven new leases, GBT Realty Corporation’s Village on Pooler Parkway is 95% leased months before its scheduled opening in the first quarter of next year. Anchored by T.J.Maxx, Ross Dress for Less, Michaels and PetSmart, the 143,000-sq.-ft. development has now added Kirkland’s, Hibbett Sports, Visionworks, Legacy Nails, Sprint, GNC and Kay Jewelers to the mix.

Chico, Calif. – Online home improvement retailer Build.com is using Adobe Marketing Cloud as the cornerstone of its digital marketing strategies, diving deeper into visitor data to better understand what they are looking for, how they navigate online, where they are coming from, and what drives purchase decisions.