Logistics

Macy’s announced a series of major operational and merchandising moves to accelerate its omnichannel approach while also releasing solid holiday sales.

Despite strides many retailers made this past holiday season integrating their physical and digital operations, omnichannel remains a highly underdeveloped opportunity for an industry looking to keep pace with shoppers.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal announced it would 338 stores, or about 66% of its total portfolio, “on or about” Jan. 7, resulting in the termination of some 3,695 full and part-time employees. The struggling teen apparel retailer said the decision to close the stores was based on its overall financial condition and an inability to negotiate meaningful concessions from its landlords.   

New York -- U.S. mediators are joining the labor talks at West Coast ports in an attempt to jumpstart the stalled negotiations between the powerful International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced its involvement in the talks late on Monday.

“We are prepared and ready to render prompt assistance,” Allison Beck, acting director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said in a statement.

The more than 2 million sellers who comprise the Amazon Marketplace sold more than 2 billion items worldwide in 2014, as more and more businesses relied on the retail giant’s fulfillment capabilities.

Marketplace transactions accounted for 40 percent of all products sold through the retail giant last year, the company announced. Also, the number of items sold by Marketplace sellers doubled from 2013 even though the number of Amazon sellers remained the same.

Seattle -- Amazon is not a company to shy away from touting its success. On Monday, the online giant announced that third-party sellers on Amazon Marketplace sold a “record-setting” more than two billion items worldwide in 2014, and that the number of its sellers adopting the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service grew more than 65% year-over-year worldwide.

It's official: Bottom Dollar Food will close its 66 store locations in the greater Philadelphia and greater Pittsburgh markets by Jan. 15 and retire the banner's operations.

In November, Delhaize Group — the parent company of Bottom Dollar Food — announced the sale of Bottom Dollar's stores and associated lease liabilities to ALDI Inc., which has expressed an interest in growing its U.S. footprint.

Just six months after being named chairman and CEO of Target, Brian Cornell is pulling the plug on the retailer’s 133 unit Canadian operation and will incur a $5.4 billion pre-tax loss in the fourth quarter to do so.

Target said it plans to discontinue operating stores in Canada through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Target Canada Co. and that it had filed an application for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (the “CCAA”) with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.