eCommerce

Raj Jain, the former head of a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Enterprises, has joined Bharti Retail as CEO.

Jain spent six years with the joint venture, Bharti Walmart, most recently serving as president of Walmart India. He left the joint venture in June 2013, four months before Walmart and Bharti announced they would independently pursue retail opportunities in India.

Joining Jain at Bharti Retail is his former joint venture colleague Panka Madan who will serve as CFO. Madan also served as CFO of Bharti Walmart but left the joint venture in 2012.

The holiday saw the launch of major consoles, and multichannel videogame retailer GameStop is looking to capitalize by declaring 2014 to be the “Year of Gaming.”

The retailer is offering select items, including console bundles, games and consumer electronics, on sale hoping to lure gamers who didn’t get everything they wanted during the holiday or are looking to use holiday gift cards. The sale runs from now through Sunday, Jan. 5.

This holiday season was one of the first real opportunities for retailers to flex their omnichannel muscle. A shorter-than-usual holiday season, combined with ongoing economic uncertainty, led consumers to turn to a variety of shopping channels in their search for the most efficient and cost-effective way to round out their gifting lists. Likewise, many shoppers also demonstrated a desire to return products across these various channels. But were retailers ready?

New York — Due to the holiday rush and related closings, sister publication Chain Store Age has extended the deadline for its 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year Design Competition until Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014.

New research from NPD conducted during the 2013 holiday season suggests shoppers believe better deals are to be had online than in stores.

That not good news for retailers under relentless pressure to generate store traffic with all manner of urgency oriented promotions such as the ubiquitous one-day sale or other types of limited duration activities.

Private equity firm Bain Capital concluded 2013 with the acquisition of Bob’s Discount Furniture, an operator of 47 stores in the Northeast that is intent on expansion.

Bain acquired a majority ownership position in the Manchester, Conn.-based company and said senior management will continue to own a significant stake. Current CEO Ted English will continue to lead the company whose first order of business for 2014 is entry into the Philadelphia market.

A decade after Staples made the phrase, “that was easy,” part of the American lexicon, the company is changing how it communicates with consumers and revising its brand logo.

OnlyLeggings.com is borrowing a page from the playbook of Costco and Amazon to create a membership-based program to appeal to those who regularly purchase leg wear.