eCommerce

Walmart, Target and Best Buy attracted record levels of customers to their websites during November, according to data released this week by the online measurement firm comScore. Retailers have come to expect a surge in traffic to their sites as the holiday approach and during November that proved to be the case and then some.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Interactive multichannel retailer HSN announced that the company's CEO, Mindy Grossman, will present at the Citi 21st Annual Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011 at 9:50 a.m. Mountain Time.

A live broadcast of the session will be available in the investor relations section of the company's website at www.hsni.com. For those unable to participate, an archived broadcast will be available shortly following the presentation.

Chicago - Boosted by a very weak comparison period, ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE) reported that total GAFO retail sales for the last Saturday before Christmas (12/18), or Super Saturday, increased a sharp 15.1% compared with last year, while the company’s retail traffic index (SRTI) reported a similar 10.1% total U.S. foot traffic uptick for the same period.

American consumers had more than holiday shopping on their mind during the third quarter as evidenced by record sales results from CarMax. The nation’s largest seller of used cars with 103 superstores nationwide said its same-store sales increased 16% during then third quarter ended November 30. Total sales increased by 23% to slightly more than $2.1 billion and earnings per share of 36 cents were two cents better than analysts forecast.

New York - Fifteen percent or 23.1 million consumers (16 years of age or older) plan to shop on Christmas Eve (December 24), according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) holiday consumer tracking survey.

Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears.com accounted for 6.21% of multichannel Web traffic for the week ended Nov. 27, which included Thanksgiving and Black Friday, according to data released from Experian Hitwise.

The data showed Sears.com received 21.1 million visits for the week, just under JCPenney at 21.5 million visits, or 6.34% of total Web traffic. Walmart topped the list at 25.88% of all Web traffic, or 88 million visits, with Target ranking second at 15.26%, or 51.8 million visits.

PITTSBURGH - American Eagle Outfitters announced its plans for American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie by American Eagle stores in Japan, in partnership with Sumikin Bussan Corporation. The first store is slated to open in Tokyo’s Harajuku shopping district in the first half of 2012.

AEO said it has signed an exclusive franchise agreement with Sumikin, a leading marketer, importer and exporter with extensive experience in the fashion industry, among other lines of business. 

Seattle - REI  (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) will to open a new store in Olympia, Wash. in the spring of 2011. 

The two-story, 25,000 square-foot store will be located off Cooper Point Road at Westfield Capital Shopping Mall. 

“REI looks forward to extending our roots further south in Puget Sound with the new store in Olympia,” said Kevin Golic, REI’s retail director for the Washington Alaska district.