China’s Single’s Day Breaks World Record with $5.7 Billion in Sales
China’s largest shopping event, Single’s Day, topped nearly $6 billion in sales in just 24-hours, making it the largest single shopping day event in the world.
M&A and Financial
Vitamin Shoppe Sees 17% Increase in Ecommerce Sales
Vitamin Shoppe has announced its preliminary results for the third quarter which ended on September 28. According to the results, total net sales this quarter increased by 14% and ecommerce sales increased by nearly 18% compared to 2012.
Big Lots Exiting Wholesale Business
Closeout retailer Big Lots has decided to exit the wholesale business. The merchant will wind down operations of Big Lots Wholesale, Consolidated International, and Wisconsin Toy wholesale operations by the end of fiscal 2013.
FTC Clears Proposed OfficeMax-Office Depot Merger
The merger of equals proposed by OfficeMax and Office Depot would create a $17 billion office supplies empire.
Fifth & Pacific Sells Juicy Couture
Fifth & Pacific Companies said on Oct. 7 that it agreed to sell the intellectual property of the Juicy Couture brand to Authentic Brands Group for $195 million cash.
Sears Reports $194 Million Loss 2nd Quarter
The Sears Holding Corporation, which operates Sears, Roebuck and Co., and Kmart, reported a 6% or $194 million loss in the second quarter. However, the online sales for both sears.com and kmart.com grew over 20%.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Says Cooler Temps Behind Sluggish Sales
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a lower-than-expected second quarter, which the sports retailer said was due in large part to “higher levels of precipitation and cooler temperatures.” Dick’s, however, did report that net sales for the second quarter increased 6.6% to $1.5 billion.
Innotrac Reports 27% Increase in Net Service Revenue
Innotrac announced its financial results for the second quarter and is reporting a 27% increase in net service revenues.
Kewill to Acquire Four Soft
Kewill, a provider of multimodal transportation software, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Four Soft, a software company headquartered in Hyderabad, India. The acquisition is expected to close within 90 days and will expand Kewill’s existing position in the Supply Chain Execution software market.
OfficeMax Sales Drop 4.3% in Second Quarter
OfficeMax released it’s second quarter financials and according to the report the office supply retail saw a 4.3% decrease in sales.