Omnichannel

New York City -- The third annual Retail Finance Outlook released Tuesday by CIT Group found that 80% of retail executives expect their holiday sales to increase or remain the same as last year. And they are eying social media as a means to drive sales.

Among the notable shopping days this holiday season, more than one-third of executives expect Black Friday sales to increase this year; more than a quarter expect Cyber Monday sales to be up and nearly a quarter expect Super Saturday sales to increase.

AMSTERDAM — Dutch supermarket operator Royal Ahold reported sales of $9.3 billion and profits of $347.8 million in third quarter 2011, the company said.

Those figures represented a 2.5% increase in sales and a 15.2% increase in profits over third quarter 2010.

Boston -- O’Reilly Auto Parts, one of the largest auto parts retailers in the United States with over 3,700 stores in 39 states, has chosen OneView Commerce’s Enactor Commerce Platform as the foundation software for delivering point-of-sale and other commerce solutions to its stores nationwide.

If you’re someone who puts off your holiday shopping until the last minute to save a few bucks by scouring for the best “deals” and taking advantage of those absolute bargain basement prices, I’m afraid you may be in for a rude awakening this holiday shopping season. If my sense of the retail landscape is correct, I think it’s possible we’ll see prices increase as Christmas gets closer.

Retailers have pulled out the stops this holiday season, especially when it comes to experimenting with cutting-edge digital technologies. But innovation shouldn’t be reserved for the holidays — it is something that should be infused into the shopping experience all year long.

New York City -- One in four consumers will start their holiday shopping this week, according to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted this fall by Oracle. The report, “Oracle Holiday Shopping Snapshot 2011,” finds that Black Friday and Cyber Monday still reign supreme when it comes to getting consumers out to shop.

In other findings:

New York City -- Ann Inc., formerly known as Ann Taylor, reported a 33.4% rise in quarterly net income to $32.3 million, beating analysts’ estimates.

The company’s performance was boosted by strong demand for its Loft brand, where same-store sales rose 7.9%. Same-store sales rose 2.5% at Ann Taylor. Comp-sales were up 45.8% in the Ann Taylor e-commerce channel and 1.8% in the Ann Taylor Factory channel. Total same-store sales were up 5.5%.

From dazzling LCD/LED video displays to rotating mannequins to staircases with color-changing LED lights, Uniqlo’s Manhattan flagship is massive in scope and bold in design.

The three-level, 89,000-sq.-ft. store is the largest Uniqlo outlet in the world. It’s a big store for a company with big ambitions: Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co., the world’s fourth-largest apparel retailer, is targeting $50 billion in global sales by 2020.