eCommerce

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is planning a rollout in Canada that will be bigger than any single year's worth of its store openings in the United States ever, executives of the company said Wednesday morning in a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the mass merchandise retailer's fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results.

NEW YORK — ShopKeep POS was presented with a Bronze Stevie Award for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year in the Computer Hardware, Services & Software category at the seventh annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Other finalists in this category included Rackspace Hosting and nFocus Solutions.

ShopKeep POS was founded in 2008 by Jason Richelson, a former multi-store retailer in NYC, whose keen eye for merchant pain points and needs has influenced how he has built every inch of the company.

Fourth quarter operating profits at Sear’s Holdings on an adjusted basis improved. 22% and same store sales at Sears flagship stores turned modestly positive.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holding Corp. reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit for the fourth quarter before special items, boosted by lower costs.

The company said its net loss for the quarter ended on Feb. 2 narrowed to $489 million from $2.4 billion a year earlier. Total costs dropped 2.2% to $12.88 billion in the fourth quarter.

Sales declined about 1.8% to $12.26 billion, but beat analysts' average estimate of $11.77 billion.

NEW YORK — Reuben Hendell, chief strategy officer of GSI Commerce  and chief executive officer of its global agency services business, will be the keynote speaker at ACG New York’s Third Annual Digital Media & Technology M&A Conference in New York on Thursday, March 21, 2013, ACG New York announced.

The conference will focus on current M&A trends, deal structures, valuation strategies, hot-company and hot-technology identification, and traditional media survival strategies.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. reported Wednesday a profit of $961 million for the fourth quarter, down from $981 million in the year-ago period. The profit slip reflected expenses related to its Canadian market entry along with a spending slowdown during the holiday sales period. It was Target's weakest holiday season performance since 2008. But its adjusted results beat analysts' estimates and it forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street's view.

Plano, Texas -- There were no signs of relief for J.C. Penney Co. in the fourth quarter as the company reported a wider-than-expected net loss of $552 million, compared with a loss of $87 million in the year-ago period. The chain did not issue guidance, but did announce would open nearly 20 home-centered shops with different brand partners in 550 stores the spring.

Davenport, Iowa -- Von Maur Department Stores announced Wednesday it has signed a contract to open a 150,000-sq.-ft. store at the GGP-owned Quail Springs Mall in Oklahoma City in fall 2014.

The store will be the company's first location in Oklahoma.