Amazon Redshift Available To The Masses

| Daniela Forte

Amazon Web Services Inc., announces its making available its data warehouse Amazon Redshift to customers. Redshift was first introduced in November of last year and could pose a possible threat to its competitors.

Storch Out as Toys R Us CEO, Rubin in at Michaels

| Tim Parry

Following a slow fourth-quarter, Jerry Storch has decided to step down as CEO at Toys R Us. Meanwhile, Chris Vickers has been named president and CEO at Vermont Country Store, Victor Luis will eventually replace Lew Frankfort as Coach’s CEO, and Ulta Beauty president and CEO Chuck Rubin has been named CEO at Michaels Stores.

Amazon Tops ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Survey

| MCM staff

Amazon extends its domination of ecommerce into the mobile platform, according to the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Holiday Retail Edition. In the survey, which was conducted of more than 6,200 consumers during the peak holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the online marketplace scored highest among 25 of the top mobile commerce companies.

Package Growth and Record Efficiency Mitigate First Quarter Loss for USPS

| MCM staff

The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2013 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2012) with a net loss of $1.3 billion. Continued growth in Shipping and Package revenue (+4.7%) and increased efficiency helped mitigate but could not fully offset the financial effects of continued First-Class Mail volume declines and costs that are beyond Postal Service management control. As a result, the Postal Service recently announced it would move forward with accelerated cost-cutting actions necessary to help maintain liquidity because Congress has not passed comprehensive postal reform legislation.

Ecommerce Spending Hits $186.2 Billion in 2012

| MCM staff

ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its Full Year and Q4 2012 U.S. retail ecommerce sales estimates. For the full year, U.S. retail ecommerce sales reached $186.2 billion, an increase of 15%– the strongest annual growth rate since before the recession. Q4 2012 sales grew 14 percent year-over-year to $56.8 billion, marking the first ever $50 billion quarter.

Value and Volume of Retail M&A Activity Grew in 2012

| MCM staff

U.S. retail and consumer merger & acquisition (M&A) activity in 2012 was primarily driven by corporations spinning off businesses, private equity (PE) investment in retail, increased cross border activity and expansion into e-commerce, according to PwC’s US retail and consumer M&A insights 2012 Year in Review and 2013 Outlook report released today.