eCommerce

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples reported Thursday that profit for the third quarter rose 7% as the office supply retailer clamped down on expenses. Net income increased to $288.7 million, from $269.4 million.

Revenue edged up to $6.54 billion from $6.52 billion. Analysts expected $6.53 billion.

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch found that up to 138 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), surpassing the 134 million who planned to do so last year.

According to the NRF 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, which polled 8,778 consumers, approximately 60 million people say they will definitely hit the stores while another 78 million are waiting to see if the bargains are worth braving the cold and the crowds.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma reported Thursday that net income for the third quarter rose to $36.5 million, up from $7.3 million.

The company, which runs Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn, also recorded a 12% revenue rise to $816 million, beating Wall Street expectations of $799.5 million.

Grapevine, Texas -- GameStop Corp. reported Thursday that net earnings for the third quarter increased 4.8% to $54.7 million, from $52.2 million in the prior year quarter.

Total sales increased 3.5% to $1.90 billion.

U.S. segment same-store sales were 5.3%, while total company same-store sales increased 1.1%.

Year-to-date, GameStop has opened 156 net new stores: 89 in the United States; 47 in Europe; eight in Canada; and 12 in Australia/New Zealand. The video game retailer currently operates 6,606 stores in 17 countries.

Albany, N.Y. -- Trans World Entertainment Corp. reported Thursday that it recorded a loss of $16.1 million in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $22.3 million a year earlier.

Total sales dropped 20% to $128.8 million. Same-store sales decreased 5%.

The company, which owns the f.y.e. (For Your Entertainment) chain of music stores, operated an average of 533 stores during the quarter, compared with 694 in the same quarter last year, a 23% decline.

 

By Charles Nicholls, [email protected]

So what can you do during the crazy holiday season to reduce shopping cart abandonment? We thought we’d put together a holiday season checklist to help you keep your customers in the shopping cart this Christmas.

Before thinking about solutions to your shopping cart abandonment problem, it’s useful to look at the reasons why customers abandon. Based on this Forrester study, you can group the top five reasons into: