Distribution

Dan McNutt, Retail, Exel   With the holiday season right around the corner, the coveted shopping season is even closer with Black Friday and Cyber Monday merely weeks away. In years past, holiday shopping was targeted to brick and mortar, Black Friday foot traffic, but with the steady boom in e-commerce, the shopping frenzy is now taking place in the digital world as well.  

The Houston suburb of Richmond is home to Sam’s Club’s 80th location in Texas following the opening of a new unit there on Thursday, Nov. 6.

Sam’s Club now operates 20 clubs in the sprawling Houston market and the 80 clubs the retailer operates in Texas account for more than 12% of the 643 Sam’s Clubs in operation nationwide as of September 30.

Mateo, Calif. -- ShopRunner announced a new partnership with Alipay which will pave the way for Chinese online shoppers to buy directly from U.S. retailers’ ecommerce sites. Alipay is China's leading e-payments provider and is widely used by hundreds of millions of Chinese online shoppers.  

Milwaukee –- Roundy’s Inc. swung to a net loss of $249.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from net income of $3.2 million the same quarter a year earlier. A variety of impairment charges, including charges related to closing a distribution center, taxes and disposal of obsolete assets, drove Roundy’s into the red, along with higher operating and administrative expenses.  

Leading third party logistics provider Transplace acquired fellow 3PL Logistics Management Solutions in a deal that extends the company’s expertise to chemical and industrial manufacturing.

Bulbs.com, is set to help businesses save big when switching to energy efficient lighting products. 

A leading online lighting supplier is launching its new National Utility Rebate Program initiative to help qualifying commercial customers participate in available utility rebate incentives for lighting products throughout the United States.

The farmers market has gone digital at Overstock.com where the discount online retailer has launched home delivery of locally sourced product.

Overstock.com launched the new Farmers Market section of its site to offer home delivery of seasonal, healthy food, grown and produced in close proximity to shoppers, according to the company.

Minneapolis -- Tuesday Corp. announced that it planned to close 11 stores as of Feb. 1, 2015, citing performance issues.