Retail

A new relationship with Citi Retail Services gives OfficeMax another benefit to tout when serving small business customers.

The retailer worked with Citi to launch the new store-branded credit card tied to the OfficeMax MaxPerk Rewards program which allows customers to receive a $25 reward for every $500 spent on qualified purchases. In addition, the no-annual fee product provides special financing offers, flexible payment options a dedicated line of credit for business expenses and detailed tracking of purchases.

By Victor Ho, CEO, FiveStars

The busiest shopping weekend of the year is just around the corner and retailers who don’t hit their sales plan won’t be able to blame the weather.

The overall trend has been similar to what we saw last month with a marginal decrease in the number of circulars, while increases were seen in page counts per market. Average pages per market saw 10% increase this year October when compared with the same month last year.

Atlanta -- An improved housing market boosted Home Depot in its latest quarter, as the home improvement retailer reported Tuesday that net income for the third quarter rose to $947 million from $934 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue climbed 4% to $18.13 billion, edging Wall Street’s estimated $17.92 billion in revenue. Same-store sales rose 4.3% in the U.S. and 4.2% overall.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak released a forecast on Tuesday that indicates certain days during the holiday shopping season will be quieter than others. The "10 best days to shop," according to ShopperTrak, are those with the least amount of foot traffic in stores. The weekdays after the busy Thanksgiving weekend top the list.

Los Angeles -- Survey results released Tuesday by PriceGrabber found that 71% of consumers believe that retailers offer better deals during Thanksgiving weekend than they do during the rest of the winter holiday shopping season, up from 58% in 2011.

When consumers who indicated that the best deals can be found over the Thanksgiving weekend were asked which days retailers offer the best prices, 71% said Black Friday (Nov. 23), down from 80% in 2011 and 86% in 2010, and 41% said Cyber Monday (Nov. 26), up from 37% last year and 33% in 2010.

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 27 surged 21% to $50.1 million, compared with $41.5 million in the same period last year. The retailer cited strong online sales for the improved performance.

Revenue rose 11% to $1.31 billion, just edging Wall Street’s expected $1.3 billion, and same-store sales rose 5.1%. Online sales soared 46.7%