News

Report: Target to pay $10 million in data breach class action
New York -- Target Corp. has agreed to pay $10 million in a proposed settlement of a class-action suit related to the company’s 2013 data breach, according to court documents filed Wednesday. The retailer confirmed the news in a CBS News report.

“We are pleased to see the process moving forward and look forward to its resolution," Target spokesperson Molly Snyder told CBS News late Wednesday.
Guess Q4 profit falls 23% but beats Street; online sales jump 37%
Los Angeles -- Guess reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter profit amid a 37% jump in the company’s online business and falling expenses. The apparel retailer, however, forecast a disappointing 2015, primarily due to the stronger U.S. dollar (1,190 of Guess’1,668 stores are located outside the United States and about 45% of its revenue comes from international markets).

Guess income fell to $53.9 million for the fourth quarter, ended Jan. 31, from $69.6 million a year earlier.

Amazon says, 'skip trip to store'

The national rollout of Amazon.com's one-hour delivery service has begun with the addition of two major east coast urban areas.
Study: App security remains risky

Armonk, N.Y. – Mobile app use continues growing rapidly, but businesses are not keeping pace with security. According to new research from IBM and Ponemon Institute, nearly 40% of more than 400 large companies studied, including many in the Fortune 500, aren’t taking the right precautions to secure the mobile apps they build for customers.
Amazon expands one-hour delivery service to Baltimore, Miami

Seattle – Amazon.com is upping the competition with brick-and-mortar stores by expanding its one-hour Prime Now delivery service to Baltimore and Miami. The service, which was previously available only in Manhattan, offers one-hour delivery on tens of thousands of items through a mobile app.
Survey: No signs of an e-commerce slowdown

Digital commerce continued its meteoric rise in the fourth quarter, according to the Shopping Index by Demandware.

The index, which measures digital commerce growth across two key attributes -- shopping attraction and shopper spend -- reveals that shopper attraction, which measures the number of shoppers, was up 25% in the fourth quarter 2014 over the fourth quarter last year and drove 81% of the digital commerce growth.
Kantar Retail: Walmart leads Target in one-stop basket price study

Boston -- Walmart narrowly leads the one-stop basket assessment versus Target, according to the latest Kantar Retail basket pricing study, which examines a basket of grocery, HBA, and general merchandise items. Study findings indicate Target’s overall basket is 3.5% more expensive than Walmart’s and Walmart leads in each of the sub-baskets, with the strongest lead in general merchandise.
Notable findings from the study include:
Facebook makes foray into payments

Facebook has become the latest tech powerhouse to get into the payments game by adding a feature to its Messenger app that lets users send money the same way they would a send text.

The news follows similar moves by Apple, Samsung and Google, all of whom announced new payment offerings over the past few months.
Williams-Sonoma sets e-commerce milestone

Williams-Sonoma set a milestone in 2014 that helped the retailer post an impressive jump in same store sales and profit.

The specialty retailer of home furnishing products reported that for the first time ever, e-commerce sales made up more than 50% of all revenues in 2014.

Williams-Sonoma said its fourth quarter net revenues grew 5.2% to $1.542 billion versus $1.466 billion in the prior year quarter. Same store sales grew of 5.1%. Earnings per share grew 13.8% to $1.57 from $1.38 in the prior year quarter.
NRF: Data breach law must be comprehensive

The National Retail Federation testified before Congress Wednesday on the need to pass a federal data breach notification law that applies to all entities that handle sensitive customer data.