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Meijer's free digital savings program, mPerks, is turning 5 this week and has already set a company record with $100 million in savings to customers this year.

New York — Guess Inc. cited the negative impact of foreign currency fluctuations on earnings and sales in a difficult second quarter of fiscal 2016. Net earnings totaled $18.3 million, a 17% decrease compared to $22 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2015.

Total net revenue decreased 10%, from $608.6 million to $546.3 million. Same-store sales, including e-commerce, dropped 2.8% in the United States and Canada. In one bright spot, top-line e-commerce sales grew 20%.

As Amazon.com deals with the fallout from a New York Times article over working conditions, another media outlet reports the retailer is scaling back its consumer device division and laying off dozens of employees in its hardware development center.

The division, called Lab126, last year released a flurry of 10 devices, including a television set-top box, the Echo and a wand for scanning bar codes at home, according to the Wall Street Journal.

New York — It was tough sledding for J. Crew Group in the second quarter as its namesake brand continued to decline.   The retailer swung to a net loss of $13.6 million for the quarter, ended Aug. 1,  compared with earnings of $10.8 million in the year-ago period.    Revenue fell 5% to $593.6 million.  

The holiday force has awakened earlier than ever at Walmart with the Aug. 28 launch of a major initiative called Toy Week.

Walmart has released its top toy list of 25 products and announced details of a layaway program that is less restrictive than prior years. The program begins Aug. 28, two weeks earlier than last years, and those participating will find the price point of eligible items has been reduced to $10 with a minimum basket size of $50, there is no account opening fee and only a 10% down payment is required.

Seattle – Mobile shopping has been getting attention for its rapid growth, and one major retailer is leading the way.

According to new data from online coupon database Coupofy.com, Amazon.com is the leading mobile commerce retailer, with 110% growth in 2014, earning revenues of $16.8 billion.

Amazon is followed by Apple ($14 billion), Chinese store Jingdong Mall ($5.8 billion), Google Play ($4.4 billion), and QVC ($1.86 billion).

The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is in the green again – at least when it comes to taking its sustainability responsibilities very seriously.

New York -- Global mobile commerce is set to explode, according to Coupofy.com, a Seattle-based database of online coupon codes.  
The company predicts global mobile commerce will grow 42% annually between 2013 and 2016, compared to 13% for regular e-commerce. Mobile shoppers will spend an estimated $600 billion in 2018, up from $200 billion in 2014.

See more here.