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As a personal crusade to get retailers to actually use digital channels in valuable ways, I've taken on the National Retail Federation’s Top 100 retailers list, and I’ve been evaluating the activities of these retailers in digital spaces: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, other social properties if it’s appropriate, and then, of course, how well these activities…

The Federal Trade Commission has taken the first step toward blocking the proposed $6.3 billion merger of Staples and Office Depot, saying the deal would hurt competition in the market for office supplies sold to large corporations. The commission filed an administrative complaint charging that the merger between Massachusetts-based Staples, the world's largest seller of…

Sears is fueling more downloads of its mobile application this season by asking in-store shoppers to enable location settings on their smartphones, select and pay for out-of-stock items within the app, and receive complimentary shipping. As retailers go head-to-head in their bid to capitalize on holiday sales, Sears is attempting to bump up digital purchases…

Over the years, Target Corp. has pulled many stunts to generate buzz in New York City — from building a life-size dollhouse in Grand Central Station a couple of years ago to perhaps, most memorably, setting up a temporary holiday store on a boat docked on the Hudson River more than a decade ago. The…

The Puerto Rico unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued the island’s government, seeking to overturn a new tax the retailer calls unfairly high. Enacted in May, Puerto Rico’s Act 72-2015 increases to 6.5 percent from 2 percent the tax on goods imported from offshore affiliates to local companies with gross revenues of more than $2.75 billion.…

The latest to take its turn on the fashion catwalk is Shoes of Prey, the Khosla Ventures-backed, on-demand customized shoe retailer, which has raised $15.5 million from a syndicate of investors including the retail giant Nordstrom. Shoes of Prey sells customizable shoes in a range of materials and designs online and in specialty retailers like…

Keurig Green Mountain Inc. will be acquired by a JAB Holding Co.-led investor group for about $13.9 billion in cash, bringing a massive windfall to shareholders after a year of watching the stock get battered. Keurig, a maker of single-serve coffee brewers, will be privately owned and independently operated following the buyout, according to a…

Amazon.com goes to great lengths to get packages into customers’ hands as quickly as possible — even if it means employing drones. Those efforts will now include putting thousands of Amazon-branded trucks on the road. The ever-ambitious online retailer planned to announce on Friday morning that it had purchased “thousands” of trailers — the part…

Chuck Williams, the founder of Williams-Sonoma, has died at age 100, the company said Saturday. Williams, whose business is famous for its cookware, died of natural causes at his home in San Francisco. His passion for cooking and entertaining friends led him into the entrepreneurial world in what would eventually become a global powerhouse celebrated…

When Ron Boire was growing up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, helping out around the property for $2 an hour, he saw new books as an out-of-reach luxury. “We didn’t have any money, and my mother was a voracious reader,” he said. “I remember telling a friend, when I grow up, I want…