News

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples is changing its logo by removing the bent staple that forms the “L” in “Staples.” Initially, Staples is excluding the bent staple in its logo in a number of places, including its e-commerce site and the company's social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and the easyBlog.

OnlyLeggings.com is borrowing a page from the playbook of Costco and Amazon to create a membership-based program to appeal to those who regularly purchase leg wear.

Armonk, N.Y. -- Overall fourth quarter online sales were up 10.3% year-over-year. The IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark indicates that soaring mobile traffic and sales were one of several key drivers.

Mobile traffic accounted for nearly 35% of all online traffic, up 40% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Mobile sales also remained strong, reaching 16.6% of all online sales, up more than 46% from the same period last year.

Walgreens, Walmart and Kroger were among major retailers quick to implement temporary new programs designed to help customers coping with one of the many glitches associated with the roll out of the Affordable Care Act.

New York — Target Corp. said a “small percentage” of its gift cards were not properly activated and, as a result, are not working properly when customers try to redeem them.

“We are aware that some Target gift cards were not fully activated and apologize for the inconvenience,” Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an e-mail, Reuters reported.

New research from NPD conducted during the 2013 holiday season suggests shoppers believe better deals are to be had online than in stores.

That not good news for retailers under relentless pressure to generate store traffic with all manner of urgency oriented promotions such as the ubiquitous one-day sale or other types of limited duration activities.

Altoona, Pa. — David Woodley, VP of sales and marketing for convenience store chain Sheetz, has moved into the executive VP spot vacated by Louie Sheetz.

The case for domestic sourcing received a boost this week after Walmart was required to recall 73,400 five-piece card table and chair sets sold under its Mainstays brand.

The recall was initiated after Walmart said it received reports of 10 injuries including one instance of a finger amputation and several fingertip amputations. The product was manufactured by the Heshan Camis Industrial Co. Ltd., of Guangdong, China, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.