eCommerce

Retail sales in November increased a better-than-expected 0.7% seasonally-adjusted month-to-month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The figure includes categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

Analysts were expecting sales to rise 0.6% in last month. The latest retail sales numbers were 4.7% above November 2012 numbers.

Amazon.com is the most popular U.S. online retail site when it comes to having Web content shared on Pinterest in the run up to Christmas 2013.

In a study of 10 top US retail sites, images and pages from Amazon.com are being shared most frequently on Pinterest, with Walmart and Apple taking second and third positions, respectively. According to a study conducted by digital marketing software and services specialist Searchmetrics, content from Amazon.com currently generates 16,360 pins per week, Walmart generates 5,778 pins per week and Apple generates 3,871.

Amit Menipaz, general manager of structured data at eBay, and John Inwright, president and CEO of Quality Supply Chain Co-op, the co-op for Wendy’s, have been appointed to the GS1 U.S. board of governors.
 

M&M'S World Las Vegas is celebrating the recent opening of its new candy wall — the largest M&M'S candy wall in the world — with a 3-D representation of the wall designed on the sidewalk outside the store.

M&M'S World Las Vegas has partnered with the We Talk Chalk art group to create the three-dimensional chalk rendering.

The wall itself spans more than 62 ft. wide and includes 125 tubes of colorful M&M'S, offering 22 varieties and 11 flavors.

Restoration Hardware co-CEO Carlos Alberini has resigned his post, effective Jan. 31, 2014. He plans to continue serving as a member of the company’s board of directors and will remain a significant shareholder.

Alberini is heading to Los Angeles, where he will take the helm as chairman of the board and CEO of Lucky Brand, effective upon closing of the pending acquisition by Leonard Green & Partners.

Analysis from price intelligence firm Profitero showed that Amazon.com makes more than 2.5 million price changes every day, compared with a little more than 50,000 total price changes made by brick-and-mortar retailers Walmart and Best Buy throughout November.

Profitero’s analysis also revealed that Amazon.com has increased its number of daily price changes 10-fold during the last 12 months. At the beginning of December 2012, the online retailer implemented just 269,113 price changes.

BitPay, a company that allows merchants to use bitcoin, has reported a spike in transactions this year.

The company has processed more than $100 million in transactions this year, and its membership now includes more than 15,500 merchants in 200 countries. The number of merchants has increased by more than 50%, while transaction volume has tripled since the creation of the All Inclusive Pricing Plan in October and the integration with Shopify in November.

Discount online shopping retailer Overstock.com has added prescription brand-name glasses and sunglasses to its website.

"Adding prescription eyewear to the Overstock website, with great names at great prices, seemed a natural fit," states Overstock.com chairman and CEO Patrick M. Byrne. "Unbeatable prices, fashionable styles, ease of ordering, stellar customer service, made the whole concept work for us and for our customers."