Sales & Marketing

NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co. is polishing up its social media efforts to more effectively engage with a new generation of shoppers with its launch of From Out of the Blue on Tumblr.

Pittsburgh -- American Eagle Outfitters Inc. on Wednesday reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit, helped by strong same-store sales. The chain also raised its full-year earnings prompting it to raise its full-year forecast for the second time this year.

Net income for the quarter ended Oct. 27 rose to $78.6 million, from $52.4 million a year ago.

Sales rose 11% to $910 million. Same-store sales jumped 10%.

Mississauga, Ontario -- Target will sponsor a tour across Canada that will visit more than 20 communities ahead of the planned opening of its stores in the country, the retailer said Tuesday.

The tour will start in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and conclude in British Columbia in the middle of December. Target plans to open 124 stores in Canada starting in March and April 2013.

New York -- Mobile solution-provider Mobiquity said Tuesday that lifestyle retailer Alex and Ani has implemented the company’s new mobile checkout technology at all its stores.

The solution is designed to improve service and response times for customers, and drive increased revenues for Alex and Ani.

SEATTLE — It’s no surprise that on the heels of record-breaking Cyber Monday sales, heavyweight Amazon reported record sales of its popular Kindle devices.

Cyber Monday 2012 proved to be the biggest day ever for Kindle sales worldwide, cementing the top four spots for Kindle e-readers and Kindle fires on Amazon’s worldwide bestsellers list. The Kindle devices have held the top four spots since their launch nearly three months ago.

To celebrate Cyber Monday, Amazon.com offered the Kindle Fire for $129.

Chicago -- ShopperTrak reported Tuesday that it estimates retail foot traffic over the Black Weekend shopping period rose 8.2% year-over-year. That equates to more than 594 million store visits between Thursday and Monday.

Retail sales increased 2.7%, with shoppers spending about $22 billion across the weekend's four days. Thursday's "door-buster" deals drove sales and traffic earlier in the weekend.    

Jeff Gordman is following in the family tradition. As president, chairman and CEO of Gordmans, he leads a company whose roots go back nearly 100 years, to when his grandfather opened a store in downtown Omaha in 1915.

From that one store, the company evolved over the years, eventually expanding beyond Nebraska. It also added a discount division, Half Price Stores. By 1990 the company had 32 stores, equally divided between the two divisions.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples has launched a new packaging technology nationwide that allows them to customize delivery box sizes to each order. Staples “smart-size” packaging, developed by Packsize International, is convenient for customers and also improves supply chain sustainability and efficiency.