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This holiday shopping season appears to have been the best in four years, Portfolio.com reported, with analysts predicting seasonal increases of 3 to 4 percent. Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 19, online retailers alone saw sales increase 12 percent to $28 billion, Portfolio.com reported, citing Reston-based research firm comScore...

Amazon has received a patent for a process that would allow people to return gifts more easily — essentially, before they're even received. The patent would allow users to indicate that they wanted to convert all gifts from a certain friend or relative — the Washington Post dubs her "poor Aunt Mildred" in its description of the patent — before they are sent.

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has established a retailing foothold with its Tide-branded dry cleaning stores, and the company is seeking additional franchisees to expand its store count.

Amazon said its third-generation Kindle is now the best-selling product in its history, taking the title from the book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," though the online retail giant didn't disclose the number of units sold.

A major snowstorm on the East Coast kept many people away from malls just after Christmas, casting a pall on the final act of the holiday shopping season.

Several sellers filed an antitrust lawsuit against eBay last week over its Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) feedback policy instituted in 2008. The lawsuit alleges that eBay's DSR policy restrains competition between sellers within the online auctions market to the financial benefit of eBay, and it says the policy "undermines the ability of small auction sellers to compete with larger sellers."

Rewarding loyal bargain shoppers was what Hanesbrands Inc. had in mind when it opened a local megastore in July 2008 after closing its Hanes Mill Outlet of Stratford Road after 36 years.

Belk CIO Mike Laurenti compares the department store chain's three-year, $150 million transformational IT initiative to "heart surgery on virtually everything that runs the company" — including its point of sale, core merchandising, e-commerce and data warehousing.

Nike is continuing its long run of impressive e-commerce growth: the footwear and apparel wholesalers/retailer reported its 15th consecutive quarter of double-digit online sales increases for the quarter that ended November 30, 2010.

Jo-Ann Stores Inc. has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Leonard Green & Partners LP for $61 per share in cash, a transaction valued at $1.6 billion, to accelerate the fabric retailer's expansion, according to Bloomberg.com.