Sales & Marketing

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle announced that it has taken another step toward helping companies handle peak online volumes of traffic and transactions with the news that its ATG Web Commerce platform has improved performance by 300% on Oracle Exalogic and the Oracle Exadata database machine when compared with systems similar in size and configuration.

The performance gains were achieved during multiple benchmarking tests.

NEW YORK— The ax has fallen at JCPenney. The company on Thursday laid off 600 workers from its corporate headquarters Plano, Texas, as its looks to streamline its business model amid a major reinvention of the business. The staff reduction, which equaled 13% to 14% of the headquarters staff, did not include any senior executives, according to The New York Times.

Armonk, N.Y. -- An IBM analytics-based forecast released Thursday expects that sales of home furnishings in the United States will shoot higher in the second quarter, with in-store sales increasing nearly 8% to $23.2 billion and online sales increasing 28.4%.

Combined in-store and online sales of home furnishings are expected to grow 16.6% in the second quarter.

New York City -- Prudential Douglas Elliman's Retail Group said it has orchestrated a long-term lease for Elijah Peters Optique at 1039 Third Avenue, between 61st and 62nd Streets.

The luxury boutique represents the Elijah Peters Optique's first U.S. flagship.
 

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has committed $15,000 in cash and gift cards to assist the Texas communities impacted by recent tornados. Cash donations will be distributed to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross. In addition, Target has donated gift cards to other local nonprofit organizations for essentials such as water and food.

BOSTON — A study conducted by Brodeur Partners has unveiled the most relevant retailers in the United States.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- The Retail Labor Index released Thursday by Kronos Inc. indicated that applications for retail jobs are waning.

The April Index, which characterizes the March 2012 state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, prepared by Macroeconomic Advisers, was down slightly in March to a still solid 4.3%. (The index is defined as the ratio of hires to applications within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred).

San Francisco -- Westfield announced that Tiffany will open on level 1 of the center, next to Bloomingdale’s, in fall 2012.

The luxury jewelry will join just-opened tea purveyor Teavana, Danish footwear retailer Ecco and men’s apparel store Henri Hubert San Francisco.

Chocolate house Ghirardelli will open a new store -- Chirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop -- in April, and Marbles: The Brain Store will open in the summer.

Francesca’s Collection is under construction.