News

Consumer electronics retailer HH Gregg is looking for a new chief financial officer after Jeremy Aguilar resigned from the company to accept a similar role elsewhere.

Aguilar spent eight years with the Indianapolis-based operator of 228 stores. His resignation is effective as of January 31 at which time SVP of finance Andrew Giesler will assume CFO responsibilities on an interim basis.

Record levels of mobile traffic helped Christmas Day online sales advance 16.5%, according to IBM digital Analytics Benchmark data.

Online discount retailer DealYard has optimized its site in a customer-friendly way, using personalized recommendations that are provided by CRM vendor 4-tell. In addition, users will receive ideas on what to add next, a feature provided by VeInteractive.

Amazon announced a record-setting holiday season for its annual membership program Amazon Prime. More than 1 million customers around the world became new Prime members in the third week of December.

On Amazon’s peak shipping day, more Prime items were shipped worldwide than ever before. The entire 2013 holiday season was the best ever for Amazon, with more than 36.8 million items ordered worldwide on Cyber Monday, which is a record-breaking 426 items per second, and millions of customers unwrapped Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets this holiday season.

Holiday sales are up 2.3% so far this season with the bulk of gift card redemptions yet to contribute to the results, according to new data from MasterCard SpendingPulse.

Macy’s is looking to drive post-holiday shoppers to its stores with its “Week of Wonderful” campaign, which it started last year.

Aiming to capitalize on shoppers who are hitting stores to use their gift cards, the retailer is touting the seven-day shopping event as an opportunity for consumers to stock up on “fresh merchandise” for the New Year.  

For companies across all industries, 2013 brought a number of challenges that significantly impacted supply chains and presented even greater uncertainty around the state of the transportation industry. Shippers were forced to adapt to a slowly recovering economy and increased regulatory mandates, compounded by the continued pressure to cut costs and maintain — if not improve — service performance levels, all while effectively planning for the future.

Online holiday sales from desktop computers increased a less-than-expected 10% after a late season surge failed to materialize, according to comScore.

The digital measurement firm in late November predicted online sales from desktop computers would increase 14% during the November and December time frame and reach slightly more than $48.1 billion. However, as of December 26, data from the firm showed sales were up 10% to $42.8 billion for the comparable period.

Streamz, a Mozaex spin-off company, has released what it’s calling the “world’s first smart streaming headphones.”

The headphones have a built-in Android processor, WIFI, Bluetooth and storage, which allow you to play music and audio from multiple sources, including onboard stored music, streaming online radio, streamed phone music, plus audio from your TV, movie and game player.

Cabot Creamery is honoring 50 volunteers from across the United States with what it’s calling a “trip of a lifetime.” On Jan. 11, the volunteers will board the Celebrity Cruises Summit for an all-expense-paid, six-day, seven-night Caribbean cruise organized in their honor, courtesy of the 1,200 farm families who own Cabot Creamery Cooperative.

The farmer-owners of Cabot have presented the Cabot Community Celebrity Award program since 2010 to recognize individuals from across the nation who have made a difference in their communities.