News

Sports Authority is the latest retailer beefing up staff ahead of the holiday shopping season. The specialty retailer plans to hire up to 5,000 part-time and temporary workers nationwide, a 20% increase from last year.

Sports Authority also plans to convert hundreds of seasonal workers into part-time and full-time team members after the holidays.

Overstock.com has released the first commercial in its new series starring NFL coach and Hall-of-Famer Mike Ditka and quarterback Jim McMahon.

"Overstock.com was pleased to bring together the two powerhouses of Mike Ditka and Jim McMahon once again," said Overstock.com co-president, Stormy Simon. "Coach Ditka portrays the same passion and excitement we feel about our business."

Retail sales fell in September for the first time in six months, but the decline was credited to a drop-off in auto purchases. Most U.S. retail sectors actually experienced broad sales gains during the month, according to the National Retail Federation, which reported that, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, retail sales grew a seasonally 0.6% compared to the previous month and 3.8% unadjusted compared to the prior year.

Results of specific sectors include:

Riding the subway just got beautiful thanks to L’Oréal Paris as the beauty brand will launch the first-ever intelligent vending experience in the New York City subway system Monday, Nov. 4.

Nestlé plans to relocate its pizza business from Northbrook, Ill., to Solon, Ohio. Nestlé Pizza operates the Digiorno, California Pizza Kitchen, Tombstone and Jack's brands. The company anticipates completing the move by mid-2014.

The Nestlé Pizza Division brands were acquired from Kraft Foods in 2010 for $3.7 billion. The acquisition allowed the company to expand its frozen prepared foods category.

PriceGrabber, a leading distributed e-commerce platform and shopping site, conducted its Winter Holiday Shopping Survey and found that 69% of consumers plan to shop at the same retailers at which they shopped last year.

Closeout retailer Tuesday Morning reported a comparable-store increase of 9.1% for the first quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to the year-ago quarter. The comparable-store sales growth was fueled by a 13.4% increase in customer transactions and a 4.3% decrease in average ticket.

The company reported a net sales increase of 6.3% to $183.7 million, compared to $172.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart announced it is extending its integrated retail shopping strategy, which connects online and in-store shopping channels to provide more flexible ways to shop, to customers in Puerto Rico. For the first time this holiday season, Puerto Rico-based Kmart customers and Shop Your Way members will have access to online layaway, store-to-home shipping, free Anyone, Anywhere pickup and free store pickup.

San Jose, Calif. -- Lance Thornswood, longtime general manager of user experience, e-commerce and creative for Target.com and interactive marketing, has been tapped to head up inRetail, a new division being launched by The Stephenz Group, one of Silicon Valley’s largest independent branding, marketing and digital agencies. The specialized division will address the growing consumer demand for omni-channel retail.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- HSN (HSNi) is leveraging the cumulative power of its portfolio of leading lifestyle brands, which include HSN, Frontgate and Ballard Designs, to launch More the Merrier, a multi-platform holiday campaign. The campaign will include digital gift guides; special promotional offers, contests and sweepstakes.