Retail

Holiday sales in 2014 were strong, and enthusiastic shoppers helped Toys “R” Us and Ikea raise nearly $20 million for children's charities.

The Toys “R” Us annual fundraising campaign to benefit the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was its most successful to date, raising $6.4 million and collecting more than 220,000 toys.

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation (NRF) is launching United for Patent Reform, a new coalition co-chaired by NRF and Oracle and comprised of grocery, hotel, retail, restaurant and technology associations and companies. The coalition will pursue patent reform legislation aimed at curbing abuse of the patent system by “patent trolls.”

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Retailers are sometimes accused of being laggards when it comes to technology and process adoption, but that does not appear to be the case when it comes to marketing. To assess marketing maturity across industries and demonstrate the business impact of modern marketing best practices, Oracle commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a global study of marketing decision-makers.

Minneapolis – Target is calling its quits in Canada. The retailer said is closing down its troubled Target Canada business. The chain previously indicated it would review its Canadian subsidiary, which launched with great fanfare in March 2013, after the 2014 holiday season.

Retailers already knew they had work to do to better meet online shoppers’ expectations, just maybe not as much as revealed by new research from IBM.

Plano, Texas – Consumers enjoyed a very discounted holiday season. According to a new survey from Alliance Data Survey, there was a 12% increase in the number of consumers saving on holiday purchases using rewards, discount offers and coupons.

Jet and Boxed are two online retailers taking aim at the warehouse club channel and drawing increased funding from venture capitalists who believe the channel is vulnerable.

New York-based Boxed has raised $33 million and operates three physical warehouses in the Northeast that shoppers interact with digitally. It does not charge a membership fee.

Jet charges a membership fee and functions more like a marketplace by providing a platform for third party sellers.

Chesapeake, Va. – In the latest scene from the continuingly unfolding saga of the battle for Family Dollar, two proxy investment firms have switched their recommendation for Family Dollar shareholders to accept and $8.5 billion bid from Dollar Tree, rather than a $9.1 billion bid from Dollar General. Glass Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) both cited Dollar Tree’s bid as offering a greater likelihood of success, despite being lower.