News

New York -- Japanese online giant Rakuten has teamed up with First Bankcard to launch the Rakuten Rewards MasterCard Program, which provides cardholders with reward points for using their credit card to shop on Rakuten.com and elsewhere.

Rakuten.com, formerly Buy.com, is Rakuten's U.S. marketplace, offering consumers more than 17 million products at everyday low prices from a network of small and large business shop owners.

Sports Authority opened two locations in Puerto Rico — on in San Juan and the other in Carolina — early this week, bringing the total number of stores on the island to three. The stores are located in the Plaza Las Américas and Plaza Carolina shopping centers, respectively.

According to the company, both locations are equipped with improved store designs for effortless navigation and offer extensive product selections. The stores will feature specialty sport shops with products from brands including Nike, Under Armour, Puma, Adidas and Columbia.

Washington, D.C. -- The average American celebrating the Easter holiday in 2014 will spend an average of $137.46 on apparel, food, candy, gifts and more. According to the National Retail Federation’s Easter Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, this is slightly less than the $145.13 spent last year.

Ready Pac Foods has hired Peter Laport as the company’s SVP, chief supply chain officer.  

"After working with Peter for many years at Nestlé, I knew that he was the perfect fit for Ready Pac," said CEO Tony Sarsam. "Peter has worldwide experience in supply chain and manufacturing that will aid tremendously in cultivating profitable business processes within operations. I am delighted to work with him again and excited that he is joining our innovative team."

Average spending per person is forecast to decline this Easter despite pent up demand from a long cold winter, according to new consumer research from the National Retail Federation.

Foster City, Calif. - American households with teens are reining in prom spending in 2014. According to a new survey of 4,000 consumers by Visa, the American average household will spend $978 in 2014 on the prom.

That's down more than 14% from the average $1,139 families spent on items including attire, limousine rental, tickets, and dinner in 2013. The sharp decrease follows three years of steady increases. By way of comparison, Canadian households will spend about 25% less than American households, at $723.

Newegg is building on its e-commerce presence in the United States with a pilot program that makes a limited selection of its products available to customers in the United Kingdom and Australia. The company said the move is “an important first step” in its international expansion plans.

Montreal – Dollarama Inc. reported an increase in sales, net earnings and same-store sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014, compared to the same periods in the prior year. During the fourth quarter, net earnings rose 8% to $83 million from $77.1 million.

Meanwhile, sales rose 4% to $582.3 million from $561.9 million and same-store sales grew 1.1%. The addition of 89 net new stores, increases in same-store sales and average transaction size helped drive overall sales growth.