Sales & Marketing

New York City -- A report released Wednesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers found that a last-minute shopping surge gave merchants a solid lift during the final week before Christmas.

According to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, same-store sales rose 0.9% for the week ended Saturday compared with the previous week. That is also up 3.4% from the week before and up 4.5% over the same period a year ago.

Washington, D.C. -- The Conference Board report, released Tuesday, found that confidence among consumers rose to an eight-month high in December, increasing to 64.5 from a revised 55.2 reading in November.

The index reading exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey and was the highest since April.

Minneapolis -- After a slew of online orders were cancelled in November and December when Best Buy couldn’t keep up with demand, the company issued the following statement on Tuesday:

“What was wrong is that there was an unacceptable delay between order confirmations and cancellations, and for that we are very sorry,” said Susan Busch, senior director of Best Buy’s public relations. “It’s important to note that this was a rare situation based on a high volume of orders over a short period of time.”

Philadelphia -- Forever 21 recently relocated and expanded to a two-story location in the newly developed wing at Willow Grove Park, located in eastern Montgomery County just north of Philadelphia. The mall is owned and operated by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group said that Brian Nelson has been named general manager of Town Center at Boca Raton, located in Boca Raton, Fla.

Nelson will be responsible for mall operations, tenant relations, leasing, marketing, business development, security and customer service.

Nelson was previously the Indianapolis-based area manager for Greenwood Park Mall, Washington Square Mall and four community centers operated by Simon Property Group.

He has been with Simon Property Group since 2000.

New York City -- The IBM Benchmark Report, released Tuesday, showed continued strength for online retailers.

According to the report, which provided a snapshot of online retail data for December 25 and December 26 as of 12 pm PST, Christmas Day online sales grew by 16.4% year-over-year. And 18.3% of all online sessions on a retailer’s site were initiated from a mobile device, up from 8.4% on Christmas Day 2010 — an increase of 117.8%.

Other report highlights included:

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Stein Mart Inc. reported Friday that its third-quarter loss widened after correcting for a computer problem that caused an error in prior results.

The retailer posted a revised loss of $3.1 million for the quarter, instead of the $1.8 million loss previously reported. That loss compares to a profit of $4.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
 

Stein Mart released restated third-quarter results Friday that showed an upwardly revised loss that wasn’t quite as bad as originally feared.