Sales & Marketing

Armonk, N.Y. – Overall U.S. online retail sales for the week leading up to Father’s Day (June 9-15) were up more than 14% from the same period in 2013. According to the cloud-based IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, Father's Day average order value was $119.37.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) have asked an appeals court to overturn a federal judge’s approval of a lawsuit settlement regarding Visa and MasterCard’s credit card swipe fees, saying it was negotiated by only a handful of merchants and would do nothing to bring the fees under control.

Seattle – The new Amazon Fire smartphone, introduced at an invitation-only press conference on June 18, includes features specifically designed to encourage shopping on Amazon.com. Most significantly, a feature known as Firefly can recognize 100 million items, including physical objects such as CDs as well as barcodes and QR codes. It is the first smartphone Amazon has produced on its own.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse has completed its acquisition of one-time-rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. The combined company has more than 1,700 stores, approximately 26,000 employees and sales of $3.5 billion on a pro forma basis.

The final price tag to combine the two retailers was $1.8 billion, or $65 per share.

Short Hills, N.J. — Visit Machu Picchu in Peru at The Mall at Short Hills this summer. In partnership with PromPeru: The Commission on the Promotion of Peru for Export and Tourism, The Mall at Short Hills will feature Peru-themed promotions from June 13 through July 10.

Highlights include:

An interactive exhibit of Machu Picchu: The centerpiece of the effort is a 20 X 30 ft. exhibit of the fabled Machu Picchu, the Incan citadel named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 international Internet poll.

Jeffrey Thomas was elevated to the role of SVP of merchandise operations at Family Dollar as the retailer looks to reignite sales under the leadership of chief merchandising officer Jason Reiser.

Thomas previously served as vp of merchant services and fill a position previously held by Scott Zucker who left the company. Thomas will report to Jason Reiser, Family Dollar’s EVP and chief merchandising officer.

Irvine, Calif. - Baja Fresh is piloting a solution from Sparkfly that will allow it to launch promotions through Google Search, Facebook, Yelp, Opera Mediaworks and UberMedia, and assess the effectiveness of each individual channel with real-time redemption data. Leveraging the technology from the Sparkfly platform, the campaign includes information on basket size and individual items purchased.

Specialty retailer Batteries Plus Bulbs is doubling down on its existing device repair business with plans to have the service in more than 650 stores by yearend.

Since August of last year, device repair was being tested in 40 markets nationwide and had grown to 275 stores, however the popularity of the service among consumers combined with the surging popularity of smartphones, iPods, tablets and other devices prompted the decision to expand the service to all stores, according to the company.