News

West Palm Beach, Fla. -- U.S. online retail sales will reach $508 billion by 2020, representing a market share of nearly 14% (or 17%, if food retailing is excluded), compared to expected online sales of $260 billion in 2013. According to a new report from FTI Consulting, this represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 11% from 2012 through 2020.

Leading cloud services provider Akamai Technologies strengthened its ability to protect the Internet with the acquisition of security solutions firm Prolexic.

Trademark has invested in two distressed properties, with plans to transform both into top performers

The slow recovery is leading many developers to examine growth alternatives to new development. Consider, for example, Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Co.’s idea: invest in distressed properties with excellent real estate and redevelop into new and ambitious concepts. Examples include The Shops at Napa Center in Napa, Calif., and Victory Park in Dallas.

Animated forms that smile and wink add tech twist

A must-see fashion exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum in New York City is doing double duty, offering a retrospective of the 30-year-plus career of avant-garde designer Jean Paul Gaultier, while also providing a showcase for a collection of show-stealing, crowd-pleasing mannequins. But what do mannequins in a museum exhibit have to do with retail?

New York -- Overall online sales from Thanksgiving through Sunday were up 14.5% in 2013 over the same period last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Mobile traffic accounted for 40.9% of all online traffic, up more than 35% percent compared to the same period last year. Mobile sales remained strong, reaching 23.2% of all online sales, up 43.7% year-over-year.

In other findings:

Regional department store operator Gordmans Stores said its fourth quarter same store sales are likely to decline in the mid-single digits after it reported a 6.1% drop in comps for the third quarter ended November 2.

Despite the comp decline, Gordman’s total sales at its 93 stores increased 5.8% to $151.3 million from $143.1 million due to the addition of 10 new stores in the prior nine months. Net income for the third quarter was $1.1 million, or six cents a share, compared to net income of $4 million, or 21 cents a share, last year.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot, formed by the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax, announced the appointment of Stephen Hare as executive VP and CFO, effective immediately. Hare replaces co-CFO Mike Newman, who has retired from the company, and interim Co-CFO Deb O’Connor, who has returned to her position as senior VP, finance and co-chief accounting officer.
 

Retail executives and suppliers meet at annual networking event

Business partnering was the top priority at Chain Store Age’s 11th annual Executive SPECS, held in November at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton, Fla. 

Designed as a high-level networking forum for retailers and suppliers in store planning, design, construction and facilities management, Executive SPECS combines dynamic keynote speakers with face-to-face “information exchange” meetings with suppliers, sponsor presentations and informal discussions.