News

San Mateo, Calif. -- A pair of veteran retailers were among the most popular store sites on Facebook during the 2014 holiday season. Sears was the most popular U.S. department store, while Walmart.com was the most popular mass merchant store site, according to a study by Searchmetrics.

The Searchmetrics study analyzed the number of weekly Facebook likes, comments and shares for pages from the websites of nine top US department stores and three mass merchant stores during November and December 2014.

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By Amy ter Haar

Sunnyvale, Calif. – Yahoo Inc. plans a tax-free spin-off of its remaining holdings in Alibaba Group. The spinoff will create an independent registered investment company called SpinCo.

Stock of the new company will be distributed pro rata to Yahoo shareholders, resulting in SpinCo becoming a separate publicly traded company. Following the spin-off, Yahoo will continue to operate its core business and hold its 35.5% interest in Yahoo Japan.

Washington, D.C. – It may take a while, but most retailers ultimately plan to implement a unified commerce platform. According to a new study of 300 U.S., European and Australian retail business and IT executives conducted by the National Retail Federation, Ecommerce Europe and Ecommerce Foundation in partnership with Demandware, 53% expect to implement a unified commerce platform in the next few years. And during the next 10 years, 86% of retailers surveyed plan to implement a unified commerce platform.

London – If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then perhaps a video is worth 1,000 sales. U.K. electric appliance retailer ElectricShopping.com has increased unit sales by 37% using Treepodia’s new YouTube Fetcher service.

New York -- BCBGMaxazria Group has expanded its relationship with Demandware to advance its omnichannel commerce strategy. The retailer launched the Demandware Digital Store Solution in nearly 180 BCBGMAXAZRIA U.S. stores in just three months to equip store associates with the solution in time for the holiday shopping season.

Barcelona – Spain-based apparel retailer Mango has recruited Toni Ruiz to become its new CFO effective mid-February. Ruiz, 45, will sit on Mango’s board of directors.

Ruiz has spent much of his professional career at Leroy Merlin, part of Groupe Adeo, where he has worked from 1999 until now, occupying various positions, including financial management in Spain and control and planning at international level.

Grapevine, Texas - GameStop will be hosting “Monster Mondays,” a trio of exclusive weekly videos from the perspective of each monster within the video game “Evolve,” creating a platform for fans to share and discuss offensive and defensive strategies. These videos began airing on Jan. 26, and will continue on Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 in anticipation of the game’s release Feb. 10.

St. Petersburg, Fla. - HSN Inc. (HSNi) has entered into a new $1.25 billion five-year credit facility, replacing its existing $600 million credit facility. In addition, in continuation of the company's capital return plan, the board of directors declared a special cash dividend of $10 per share, representing approximately $525 million.