News

Amazon on Thursday posted its eight straight quarter of net profitability, fueled by growth in e-commerce sales and its lucrative cloud service platform, Amazon Web Services.   Amazon easily topped earning expectations for its first quarter, ended March 31, reporting $1.48 per share, above the $1.12 Wall Street expected. Net income rose to $724 million from $513 million in the year-ago period.  

Apple may be the next company to provide a money-transfer service.   Sources said Apple has recently held discussions with payments industry partners about introducing a program that would allow iPhone owners to send money to each other digitally, according to ReCode.   If Apple’s plan pans out, its service will rival offerings from big U.S. banks, as well as PayPal, its millennial-popular subsidiary Venmo, and Square Cash, the report said.  

The National Retail Federation brought added attention to its stance on debit card swipe fee reform at a Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.    According to the NRF, reform has saved merchants and consumers more than $40 billion -- which is why the association is asking that it be protected.  

In an action that reflects its strong performance, Costco Wholesale Corp. is about to return some $3.1 billion to investors.    The retailer announced a special cash dividend on Costco common stock of $7.00 per share, payable May 26, 2017, to shareholders. The dividend is in addition to a 5 cent increase of the company’s quarterly cash dividend to 50 cents a share.  

Office Depot continues to make good on its promise to focus on its North American business.     The retailer said it has closed on the sale of its business in South Korea to Excelsior Capital Asia, a Hong Kong- and Korea-based direct investment firm. Excelsior invests throughout Asia on behalf of major Korean institutions, pension funds and private family offices.  

Williams Company Southeast has announced plans to break ground on what it claims will be the biggest to be built in Central Florida for years.   Vineland Point, a 447,500-sq.-ft. project developed by O’Connor Capital Partners on I-4 and Daryl Carter Parkway in Orlando exceeds the size of The Crosslands, another O’Connor project constructed by Williams that opened in Kissimmee in 2015.  

Fresh Market will open its second location in South Carolina’s capital region in the growing upscale suburb of Lexington.  

Harnessing customer-specific data is paramount for RueLaLa to engage shoppers and foster long-term customer relationships.