News

Survey: Half of consumers will order online gifts days before Dec. 25
London, U.K. - Almost half (47%) of consumers will order gifts online this Christmas with less than a week until Dec. 25. According to the latest ECustomerServiceIndex results from EDigitalResearch and IMRG, when asked what date they would be comfortable placing a holiday online order, the majority of consumers (53%) said Wednesday Dec. 17 or before.
Amazon Q3 loss widens to $437 million; sales up 20% to $20.58 billion
Seattle -- The red ink got worse at Amazon in its third quarter as the Internet giant reported a net loss of $437 million in the third quarter, worse than analysts expected, compared with a net loss of $41 million in the year-ago period.

Report: layoffs and store closings at Sears Holdings

Retailers typically wait until after the holiday to close stores and announce layoffs, but widespread media reports indicated Sears Holding will be doing a little of both ahead of Christmas. The company may close as many as 100 stores and layoff nearly 5,500 people before the year’s end, according to a report which first surfaced on the Web site Seeking Alpha. Closures include over 100 Kmart, Sears and Sears Auto Center locations. Sears revenue has been in decline for 30 straight quarters.
Tesco chair to step down as net income plummets below estimates

Cheshunt, U.K. –- Sir Richard Broadbent, chairman of Tesco PLC, will step down in the wake of a 99% drop in net income for the first half of fiscal 2014. Tesco reported first half profits of $9.6 million, about $333 million less than previous estimates.
Canadian operations cut into West Marine Q3 profit

Watsonville, Calif. –- A tax valuation allowance related to its Canadian operations helped reduce net income at West Marine Inc. to $4.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, down 24% from $6.5 million in the same period the prior fiscal year. Net revenues were $196.5 million, a 2% jump from $193.4 million, and same-store sales rose 0.6%.
The elves are back at Office Depot

Office Depot, Inc.
Palladin Consumer Retail Partners takes major investment in Harrys of London

Boston -- Palladin Consumer Retail Partners announced a majority investment in Harrys of London, a London-based luxury shoemaker and accessories house known for combining traditional craftsmanship with the latest footwear technology. The Palladin investment will provide Harrys with capital to expand its operating team, open additional retail stores and invest in new initiatives to fund growth including marketing, merchandising, product development, and e/m-commerce.
Canadian digital revolution coming to America

Revolutionary has become the most overused term in the retail industry and the latest company to apply that description to its retail offering is ironically called Retailcommon.
VenueLabs launches free social listening tool

Seattle –- VenueLabs is launching a free social listening tool geared for small businesses called AboutLocal. AboutLocal lets small retailers listen to and engage with customers in real time across hundreds of disparate channels.
Yahoo beats Street with help from Alibaba, mobile

Sunnyvale, Calif. –- Strong mobile revenue and proceeds from the sale of a portion of its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. helped Yahoo Inc. beat Wall Street estimates for earnings per share (EPS) and revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2014. EPS totaled $0.52, up 62% from $0.32 the same quarter the prior fiscal year, and revenue grew 1% to $1.15 billion from $1.14 billion.