aggregatedcontent

Is Groupon.com ready to survive its first holiday shopping season as a major e-tailer? The fast-growing site, which sells discounted deals, faced a double-trouble traffic spike when mentioned on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

AllThingsD.com reports that Google is eyeing daily-deals darling Groupon for possible acquisition. Barron’s Eric Savitz explains why the tremendously successful Groupon has spawned daily-deals copycats and why this site might be appealing to web giants.

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, SLI Systems released its November E-Retail Index, lending important insight into some of the most popular items on consumer lists this year, based on the most commonly used site search terms.

In time for the holiday season, Time Inc.'s Real Simple magazine will open its first pop-up shop on Dec. 1 in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The temporary location will offer licensed products, giveaways and makeovers.

Foot Locker Inc. said it swung to a third-quarter profit of $52 million, or 33 cents a share, from a net loss of $6 million, or 4 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

Chief marketing officers at leading U.S. retailers expect Black Friday sales to increase by 3.8 percent, with Cyber Monday sales forecasted to grow by 2.5 percent this holiday season. Black Friday and Cyber Monday expectations are more bullish this year compared to 2009 when both were expected to rise by 1.8 percent.

While consumer confidence remains shaky, retail sales should see a modest increase through the holiday season, prodded by broadening growth in personal consumption, according to recent analysis by Kurt Salmon Associates.

Specialty retailers and department stores are in the spotlight as they report third-quarter earnings results.

Gap Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter profit fell 1.3 percent, though share repurchases boosted the casual apparel retailer's per-share earnings.