Retail

LAS VEGAS — Pacific Entertainment, creators of the Baby Genius brand of musical edu-tainment for infants and toddlers, announced that Alfred Kahn will join the company as an exclusive consultant in the children's preschool and education markets. 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples announced that it has launched a mobile version of its website. The M.Staples.com mobile site is optimized for smartphones and features enhanced product ratings and reviews, one click to an ink and toner finder, a Staples retail store locator with automatic GPS, store inventory lookup and enhanced on-site search, including an auto-suggest feature, the company reported. 

Staples' new mobile website also allows users to share product reviews and become a fan of Staples on Facebook, or follow Staples on Twitter.

WASHINGTON — Retail spending for the month of May experienced a slight drop of 0.2% to $387.1 billion, though the advanced estimates noted that May sales were 7.7% higher than the year-ago period, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The government agency also reported that total sales for the March through May period were up 7.5% from the same period a year ago.

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy reported Tuesday that net income for the first quarter fell 12% to $136 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, hurt by increased promotions and lower demand for such items as flat-panel televisions and digital cameras. But strong showings in China, mobile phone sales and online performance pushed helped to boost profit and revenue past analyst estimates.

Insight into consumers’ buying behaviors is important in order for advertisers and retailers to reach this elusive shopper who is seeking not only to save money but to save time. Consumers’ continued interest in coupons and savings has been influenced, in part, by concerns over their own personal economic situations. Today, faced with rising food and gas prices, consumers are seeking ways to offset these increases. 

Hitachi Power Tools has appointed Tim Hawkins as its director of home center sales for North American business, effective June 1. Hawkins previously served as director of outdoor power equipment for Hitachi Power Tools & Tanaka Power Equipment (a brand within the Hitachi Power Tools group). Prior to then, he was regional manager over the central United States for Hitachi. Hawkins first joined the company in 1998. 

PLANO, Texas — Things just got a whole lot more interesting in the mid-tier department store space now that JCPenney has hired former Apple executive Ron Johnson to be its CEO. Johnson is a former Target merchandising executive who for the past 11 years oversaw the growth of Apple’s wildly successful and widely heralded retail operation.

LOS ANGELES — Back-to-school shopping will likely take place even later this year than in 2010, as consumers hope to score last-minute deals, the latest forecast from PriceGrabber reveals. PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, found that 95% of consumers are planning to use some sort of money saving technique when back-to-school shopping, and they plan to start shopping later in 2011 than they did in 2010.