News

St. Petersburg, Fla. - HSN Inc. (HSNi) has entered into a new $1.25 billion five-year credit facility, replacing its existing $600 million credit facility. In addition, in continuation of the company's capital return plan, the board of directors declared a special cash dividend of $10 per share, representing approximately $525 million.

Prepaid payment provider Blackhawk Network has created a new division dedicated to providing customized engagement, incentive and rebate programs for consumers, employees and sales channels.

New York - With gas prices down 31% since June 2014 and oil prices tumbling to their lowest levels in several years, American consumer confidence has improved dramatically. According to the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Report, in fourth quarter 2014 U.S. consumer confidence went up 12 percentage points year-over-year.

Orlando, Fla. – Digital receipts solution provide FlexReceipts will provide its technology to  several independent retailers including denim retailer Paige USA, sportswear retailer TravisMathew, men’s clothier Milton’s, Rusty Del Mar Surf Shop and Robert’s China.

New York -- E-commerce giant Amazon.com is upping the ante on its free shipping policy.

The Seattle company announced that all Amazon seller-fulfilled items are now eligible to contribute to Amazon’s minimum order of $35 to qualify for free shipping. So now customers can get free shipping whether the items are fulfilled by Amazon or from the millions of small and local businesses selling on Amazon.

NEW YORK — A survey conducted in eight world markets during the latter half of January 2015 revealed insights on online purchasing habits of consumers in winter. The survey was jointly carried out with One Hour Translation and Google Consumer Surveys and was based on a sample of 800 respondents — 100 from each of the following countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Japan.

Stockholm, Sweden – Stockholm, Sweden-based EPiServer and Nashua, New Hampshire-based Ektron have merged to create a new global digital experience provider of scale. The combined company is backed by technology-focused private equity investment firm Accel-KKR.

The combined company, which will operate under the EPiServer name and continue to use the Ektron and EPiServer brands, has more than 8,800 customers in 30 countries backed by a network of more than 880 partners.

ShoeBuy, a global online retailer of shoes and clothing, is expanding into footwear manufacturing.

The company has acquired a minority stake in Boston Boot Company. Now, the complete Boston Boot Company product line will be available at ShoeBuy.com, bringing the brand to millions of shoppers. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.