News

South Bend, Ind. - TireRack.com, an online retailer for tires, wheels and performance accessories, has launched its new consumer website. The new site has been developed to make consumer visits faster, easier and more informative.

The new TireRack.com features an all-new look, fast and easy navigation, a fresh user interface and improved product presentation, as well as additional historical information. Site shoppers have access to intelligence culled from more than 150,000 Tire Rack consumer surveys.

After reporting disappointing financial results for the first quarter, the Fresh Market can use all the help it can get in communicating its value proposition to shoppers.

So it may not come as a surprise that the grocery chain has selected a new advertising agency to drive growth going forward. The Fresh Market announced that its new agency, Zimmerman, will conduct strategic planning, creative services, brand activation, media planning & buying (traditional and digital), internal campaign development and social media activation for the company.

Declining sales and mounting losses at online retailer Geeknet weren’t enough to deter Hot Topic from paying a steep price to acquire the retailer of products designed to appeal to the geek in everyone.

Los Angeles-based Hot Topic, operator of 650 specialty stores, entered into an agreement with Fairfax, Va.-based Geeknet to acquire the company for $17.50 a share, a 122% premium above Geeknet’s closing share price of $7.90 on Friday, May 22.

Amazon is reportedly looking to launch an artisanal-goods marketplace called Handmade, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper obtained invites that Amazon has sent to sellers at Etsy. Neither Amazon nor Etsy has agreed to comment on the Journal report.

Seattle -- Nordstrom and Toronto-based TD Bank Group announced an agreement under which TD will acquire Nordstrom's existing U.S. Visa and private label consumer credit card portfolio, which currently totals about $2.2 billion in receivables. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

In addition, the two companies have entered into a separate long-term agreement under which TD will become the exclusive U.S. issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private label consumer credit cards to Nordstrom customers.

Nordstrom is looking to increase its capital efficiency by selling its credit card portfolio to a Canadian bank.

Nordstrom and Toronto-based TD Bank Group announced an agreement under which TD will acquire Nordstrom's existing U.S. Visa and private label consumer credit card portfolio, which currently totals about $2.2 billion in receivables. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly preparing an online marketplace for handmade goods that will appropriately enough be known as “Handmade.” According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has been sending targeted emails to Etsy sellers inviting them to sell their wares on Handmade.

The invites do not specify when Handmade will launch or what type of fees sellers will be charged. Etsy sellers are being asked what category of goods they make, such as apparel and baby, and can also select subcategories such as jewelry and home.

Former Walmart Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Duncan Mac Naughton has joined the board of directors of CROSSMARK, a sales, marketing and merchandising services company focused on the retail and consumer goods industries.

CROSSMARK CEO Steve Schuckenbrock in an internal company announcement said it is a privilege to have Mac Naughton join the company’s board given his extraordinary retail industry experience and leadership from both a manufacturer and retailer perspective.