eCommerce

An increase in third-quarter net sales was not enough to bolster Chico’s FAS’s net income, which took a hit from its Boston Proper business.

The company reported net income of $35.8 million, down 15% from $42 million in the same period a year earlier.

Famous footwear may have generated record third quarter sales, but parent company Brown Shoe was unwilling to get too ambitious with holiday expectations given uncertainty it sees around promotional activity and consumer sentiment.

Online sales early this week were up nearly 12% from the equivalent Monday a year earlier. Data from the IBM Digital Analytics Holiday Benchmark shows that mobile traffic accounted for nearly 32% of all online traffic, up 42% compared to the same period last year.   

Barnes & Noble faces all the same headwinds as other retailers this holiday season, but its challenges are compounded by the fact that it continues to derive the majority of its revenues from declining sales of physical books.

The operator of 673 book stores said it expects holiday same store sales to decline in the high single digits following a 4.9% comp decrease during the second quarter ended October 26.
Total Barnes & Noble sales declined 8% to $1.7 billion with each of the company’s three segments reporting reduced sales.

Antonio Urcelay has replaced Gerald Storch as chairman of Toys “R” Us and the retailer also named Richard Markee to its board.

Fred's credited an 8% lift in pharmacy department sales as a key factor accounting for the company's third-quarter success.

The Children's Place president and CEO Jane Elfers focused on the positive following decreases in net and comparable-store sales for the third quarter, despite the company’s reportedly strong performance during the back-to-school period.

Shopko has named retail industry veteran Peter McMahon as its new CEO.

McMahon has more than 30 years of experience in international retail. Most recently McMahon served as the COO at Loblaws. As COO, McMahon was responsible for Loblaws’ supply chain, IT, HR, labor relations, merchandising, store operations and loss prevention functions. Prior to his time at Loblaws, McMahon held senior-level positions at Walmart in Germany and Japan and Tesco in central Europe.