News

A Walmart initiative begun a year ago to offer an online assortment of products from small women-owned businesses has expanded to the retailer’s stores.

Jelly Belly Candy Co. will celebrate its American heritage with the introduction of two new patriotic bags of Jelly Belly jelly beans.

The All American mix, which consists of Very Cherry (red), Coconut (white) and Blueberry (blue), is now available in a 3.5-oz. bag that features Mr. Jelly Belly waving the American flag. The 3.5-oz bag of Very Cherry — the top-selling jelly bean flavor, according to the company — now features an updated design with a white gingham pattern and a graphic of ripe cherries that bring to mind summer picnics.

Amazon continues to power ahead with record first quarter sales, solid bottom line improvement and intriguing new initiatives to drive future performance.

Sales increased 23% to $19.7 billion during the quarter ended March 31, compared to $16 billion the prior year. The sales figure was comprised of product sales which grew 18.3% to $15.7 billion and service sales which grew 44% to slightly more than $4 billion. The company’s fulfillment costs increased 29% to $2.3 billion.

Overstock.com promoted Seth Marks to SVP of merchandising and strategic sourcing. The promotion was in conjunction with the online shopping site’s first-quarter results for the period ended March 31.

Marks has been with the company since 2013, serving as VP of sales and special acquisitions.

"Seth brings a wealth of experience to this position from his previous work in liquidation and retail channel markets. He continually makes great contributions in securing the best deals for our customers," CEO Patrick M. Byrne said.

Chicago -- Survey results by location-based shopping platform Retale, which aggregates weekly circulars from more than 60 top-line retailers for mobile and digital devices, found that 71% of mobile app users don't like the idea of being tracked into a store via their smartphones.

More than half (56%) say they are not interested in receiving push notifications while shopping.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. said that its Fry's Marketplace store in Phoenix marks the 500th Kroger location to earn the Energy Star designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy.

By Erin Nealy Cox, Stroz Friedberg

Atlanta - Hooters of America LLC has activated Sparkfly to enhance and streamline the capabilities of its new HootClub loyalty program. Through the relationship with Sparkfly, Hooters will gain the ability to redeem digital promotions at any location, regardless of which POS technology is used.

Long Island City, N.Y. – Calypso St. Barth Inc. has obtained a $17.5 million senior-secured credit facility from Salus Capital Partners LLC. The financing will be used to refinance its current lender, general corporate purposes and continued store growth.

“The Salus team has demonstrated a deep understanding of our business,” remarked David Stiffman, president and CFO of Calypso St. Barth. “The new facility with Salus provides us the ability to capitalize on our business momentum and execute our growth strategies.”

New York - The eight-day run up to Easter 2014 fell shy of the previous year’s comparable period by 9.3% in traffic and 8.9% in sales. According to data from retail analytics provider RetailNext, there was a 1.2- percentage-point improvement in conversion, which helped generate a sales decline that was less than the traffic decline.