Sales & Marketing

Amazon’s Appstore selection has nearly tripled in the past year and developers continue to report strong monetization from the apps they offer in the store.

The Amazon Appstore now has more than 240,000 apps and games, and is available in nearly 200 countries and on a multitude of devices. Additionally, Amazon Coins have become widely popular, according to the online giant — customers have spent hundreds of millions of Amazon Coins on apps, games and in-app items, it said.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven has signed a master franchise Agreement with Seven Emirates Investment LLC to develop and operate 7-Eleven stores in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The expansion marks the company's first entry into the Middle East region.
   

Quill Ideas is the name of a new crowdsourcing platform the online division of Staples launched for customers and employees to share ideas in new and interesting ways.

Quill.com, acquired by Staples in 1998, is calling Quill Ideas an online-innovation community that is designed to solicit and implement ideas, review and rank them based on various protocols and then implement those that score the highest. A soft launch that began two weeks ago has already garnered more than 13,000 interactions made up of ideas, votes and comments, according to the company.

San Diego - Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. has completed the acquisition of Fallbrook Shopping Center, located in West Hills, California. ROIC acquired the property for $210 million in cash funded by a borrowing under its unsecured credit facility.

Rent the Runway, the popular online retailer specializing in rentals of pricey designer dresses and accessories, has opened a brick-and-mortar outpost on the second floor of The Cosmopolitan hotel’s retail complex in Las Vegas.

Duck brand duct tape has partnered with Fiskars to introduce Fiskars Duck Edition scissors. To mark the launch, Fiskars is hosting a sweepstakes starting today called Imagination on a Roll on its Facebook page.

Sweepstakes participants are encouraged to share their Duck Tape crafting project ideas on Fiskars’ Facebook page for a chance to win 21 rolls of Duck Tape and the new Fiskars Duck Edition scissors, a prize valued at more than $90. The sweepstakes runs through July 14.

Norwalk, Conn. — The Priceline Group Inc. and online restaurant reservation service OpenTable Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement whereby The Priceline Group will acquire OpenTable for $103 per share in an all cash transaction valued at $2.6 billion. OpenTable will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco and will operate as an independent business led by its current management team within The Priceline Group.

Boston — A joint committee of the Massachusetts state House of Representatives and Senate has filed a bill to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage from its current hourly rate of $8 to $11. The increase would occur in stages until reaching $11 in 2017.