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An augmented reality app allowed H&M customers to virtually try on apparel items using their smartphones.

Barnes & Noble reported strong preliminary holiday results at its superstores, led by the popularity of its Nook e-readers. The top U.S. bookseller reported a preliminary same-store sales increase of 9.7 percent for the nine-week period ended on January 1 at its existing superstores.

Discount-store operator Dollar General Corp. said it plans to open 625 new stores and hire more than 6,000 workers in 2011.

Online retailing was the shining star of 2010's holiday season, with sales rising 13% over 2009 to a record $30.81 billion. Top growth categories included computer hardware (up 23%), books and magazines (up 22%) and consumer electronics (up 21%). Even Mother Nature seemed to be on e-tailers' side, sending a blizzard up the Eastern Seaboard on December 26 that created a final post-Christmas flurry of Web shopping.

Seattle-based Tommy Bahama Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Industries Inc., recently announced plans to open a Manhattan store, according to WSJ.com. The island-inspired retail chain has signed a 12-year lease for a 8,500-sq.-ft. space in the Art-Deco Fred F. French Building on Fifth Avenue at 45th Street. The company hopes to open the new store by the end of 2011. "With the strength of our brand in diverse locations across the country, we feel there has never been a better time for us to open a store in Manhattan," said Terry Pillow, CEO of Tommy Bahama.

Highly satisfied visitors to retail websites are 61% more likely to purchase from the retailer online and 35% more likely to purchase off line. See which e-commerce sites take the lead in customer satisfaction.

Rite Aid Corp.'s (RAD) same-store sales rose 0.6% from a year earlier in December, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking the first monthly growth since May 2009. Both the front-of-the-store and pharmacy sales increased. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a decline of 1%. Though the No. 3 U.S. drugstore chain behind Walgreen Co. (WAG) and CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) has cut costs and refinanced debt, it has struggled to turn revenue around in recent years. The company has posted losses since its 2007 acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd chains that saddled it with debt

Best Buy is on the verge of an announcement that could shake up the retail industry, reports CNBC's Herb Greenberg.

Cybercrime attacks on retail and e-tail will outpace those on banks and financial institutions in 2011, and cloud computing and virtual machines will be specifically targeted, a data security expert predicts.