eCommerce

Wal-Mart Asia CEO Scott Price is among the feature speakers participating in this year’s World Retail Congress event scheduled for March 19-21 in Singapore.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it has created a new executive position to oversee new store formats in international markets.
 
Lev Khasis, who joined the company in 2011 after working in Russian retail, was named president and CEO of new formats for Wal-Mart International. He built up Russia’s largest food retailer X5 through acquisitions into a market leader before resigning to join Wal-Mart Stores.
 

Indianapolis -- Simon Property Group and Institutional Mall Investors (the co-investment venture owned by an affiliate of Miller Capital Advisory and The California Public Employees' Retirement System [CalPERS]), on Thursday announced that they have formed a joint venture to own and operate The Shops at Mission Viejo in the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Viejo, Calif., and Woodfield Mall in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Ill.

New York -- British clothing and accessories retailer Jack Wills Outfitters is opening a new store, in New Canaan, Conn.

The company has chosen builder and general contractor A&O Danner, Inc., of Plymouth, Mass., to complete the buildout. In 2010-11, Danner built two other Jack Wills stores in Connecticut, in Greenwich and Westport.

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has entered into a content licensing agreement with A+E Networks to add prior seasons of series from A&E, Bio, History and Lifetime to the Prime Instant Video service.

Prime Instant Video now features more than 33,000 movies and TV episodes for Amazon Prime members to stream instantly, at no additional cost, on Kindle Fire HD or any of the hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii U.  

Walmart SVP Lev Khasis was elevated to the new role of president and CEO of new formats for Walmart International, according Reuters and Bloomberg reports citing a Walmart spokesman.

Khasis joined Walmart in 2011 after working for Russian retailer X5, a company Walmart reportedly had an interest in acquiring. The spokesman said Khasis will focus on developing store concepts that can be deployed across markets.

Indianapolis -- Finish Line Inc. reported Friday a loss of $107,000 for the quarter ended Dec. 1, compared with a profit of $5.55 million in the year-ago period. The unexpected swing, said the company, was due in part to a lukewarm response to Finish Line’s new online store.
 
Sales in the quarter climbed 5.2% to $296.6 million, missing Wall Street’s expected $296 million in revenue, and same-store sales rose 3.6%.

Houston -- Houston-based X Team International partner Baker Katz said that it has completed the sale of the former Syms clothing store in Houston’s Westchase District.

The 40,777-sq.-ft. building was sold to Tennis Express for an undisclosed amount. Tennis Express will relocate an existing store and consolidate off-site storage into the new location.