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Men's Wearhouse reported late Wednesday that profit for the quarter ended July 31 rose 7% to $42.5 million, compared with $39.5 million in the year-ago period. The clothing chain cited a double-digit jump in tuxedo rental revenue for the improvement in earnings. Revenue increased 2% to $537 million, from $526 million a year ago. Analysts expected revenue of $536 million.Tuxedo rental revenue rose 10% and accounted for more than 26% of the company's quarterly total, said Men’s Wearhouse.

The next generation of Checkout by Amazon (CBA) enables Amazon.com account holders to make purchases on a merchant's site using their Amazon.com account credentials without leaving the merchant's site. Consumers can now access their Amazon address book and payment methods directly on a merchant's site. In the past, consumers would be redirected from a merchant's site after clicking the checkout button. Checkout by Amazon offers two options, Inline Checkout, which can be fully integrated into merchants' existing checkout flow and allows merchants to provide an experience consistent with their brand; and Standard Checkout, which allows customers to review all

Retail Ventures, which operates the DSW shoe store chain, posted a 67% jump in second-quarter net income as same-store sales rose 12%. The company earned $26.9 million in the three-month period ending July 31, up from $16.1 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 12.3% to $415.1 million.

Japanese clothes retailer Uniqlo has found a novel way of encouraging U.K. shoppers give the brand a big presence on Twitter — by reducing the price of clothing pieces every time someone sends a tweet about an item.

Amazon has acquired online music store Amie that it had funded in the past, as it gears up to counter Apple's iTunes dominance. Amazon will buy the retail operations of Amie Street, according to a statement by Amie Street. However, details of the deal have not been divulged. The team behind Amie Street will divert its focus on Songza, a social music streaming service it acquired in 2009, reports say. Amazon will cobrand Amie Street with Amazon Music Service and will give users $5 coupons to purchase songs on Amazon. Amazon had invested in the start-up in 2007.

For nearly two years, Amazon has been trying to get manufacturers to adopt “frustration-free packaging” that gets rid of plastic cases and air-bubble wrap — major irritants for consumers and one of Amazon’s biggest sources of customer complaints.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in September over the same month last year, but 2010 has already hit its peak and numbers will decline through the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

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Timberland is putting its best foot forward in a new global campaign showcasing the Earthkeepers collection of eco-friendly apparel. The effort, dubbed "Nature Needs Heroes," includes TV, print and retail ads, as well as social media and a microsite that uses 3-D technology to help consumers become better acquainted with Earthkeepers.

The Talbots returned to a profit in the fiscal second quarter as the company cut costs to offset slightly lower revenue. The retailer raised its yearly outlook on the results, but trimmed its revenue outlook due to the continued weak economy. It also offered third-quarter guidance below expectations.Net income for the three months ended July 31 totaled $941 million, compared with a loss of $24.5 million in the year-ago period.Revenue fell 1% to $300.7 million from $304.6 million, a year earlier. Same-store sales were down 1.4%.Talbots CEO Trudy F. Sullivan said the company continued to see double-digit increases in