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When Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS shoes six years ago, his pitch to consumers -- buy a pair and a second one will be donated to the needy -- helped start a phenomenon retail consultants call compassionate consumerism. Since then it has been imitated widely by established brands. Inspired by TOMS, Skechers USA Inc. (SKX) (SKX) introduced a brand called BOBS, as in Benefiting Others By Shoes. Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) (URBN) stores feature apparel by Threads for Thought, which gives part of its sales proceeds to humanitarian groups.

There have been enough horror stories about frozen PayPal accounts to make some companies think twice about using the service.  The victims include individual sellers, start-up companies, creative artists and impromptu philanthropists. They all had to scramble when PayPal decided to hold on to their money longer than expected. PayPal, which is owned by eBay, remains the dominant global player in e-commerce, handling more than half of all Web transactions by some estimates, and it continues to grow. But some businesses who are frustrated by the company's aggressive antifraud measures are looking at other ways to accept payments.

A former eBay and PayPal executive who went on to lead Google's commerce initiatives has joined the Board of Directors of fashion brand Coach. Stephanie Tilenius was at eBay Inc. for nine years, ultimately as SVP of eBay.com and global product. She went on to become vice president of global commerce and payments overseeing digital commerce, product search and payments at Google. Tilenius recently stepped down from Google and joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, as Executive-in-Residence, primarily focusing on companies within its Digital Growth Fund. Lew Frankfort, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coach,

US shoppers proved resilient in July, driving a key sales figure up at retailers across the country, despite persistent worry about jobs and the global economy. Results came in better than expected for many retailers, helped by hot weather and summer clearance sales, an encouraging sign as the back-to-school season, the second-biggest shopping season behind the holidays, kicks off. A preliminary tally by the International Council of Shopping Centers of 20 retailers found revenue in stores open at least a year rose 4.6 percent in July, higher than the 3 to 3.5 percent the retail group expected.

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Pat Quinn says Walgreen Co. plans to expand its operations in Illinois and create 500 jobs over the next three years.In announcing the expansion Friday, Quinn and Walgreen said the agreement is part of the "Invest Illinois Initiative." It calls for Walgreen to invest $75 million to expand and renovate more than two dozen corporate offices in northern Illinois.Quinn says the expansion will create good paying jobs, attract more investment and help fuel the state's economic recovery.Under the terms of the deal, Walgreen will also be eligible for tax credits tied to retaining 1,500 existing

Daffy's Inc., the 19-store chain selling discount designer brands in the U.S. Northeast, filed for bankruptcy court protection after saying it would shut down because of weak consumer spending. The Secaucus, New Jersey-based company listed assets of as much as $100 million and debt of as much as $50 million in Chapter 11 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Daffy's said July 16 in an e-mailed statement that it would close stores and liquidate merchandise during the next few months.

New York -- Samsonite International is acquiring high-end luggage and leather goods firm Hartmann from Clarion Capital Partners for $35 million. “The Hartmann brand is an important addition to our portfolio and gives us the ability to successfully expand our presence in the global luxury luggage section,” stated Tim Parker, chairman and CEO, Samsonite.

Walmart has confirmed that a software glitch caused nearly all of the chain's self-checkout units for the past two weeks to display incorrect or confusing information, according to storefrontbacktolk.com. The retail giant claims, however, that the receipts and the amounts charged were all correct. The glitch stemmed from a mid-July software update from a Walmart server but has been fixed, company spokesperson Ashley Hardie said in a phone call to RetailCustomerExperience.com. Read more about self-checkout.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Body Central Corp., which operates 258 stores under the Body Shop and Body Central banners, reported Thursday that net income for the second quarter dropped to $3.4 million, from $5.3 million in the year-ago period. Revenues climbed 6.3% to $79.4 million, and same-store sales decreased 7.6%. The company opened 15 new stores and closed one during the second quarter.

egy, Consider This IKEA has applied to the Indian government for permission to invest $1.98 billion to open 25 stores in that country over the next 15-20 years. After a meeting last month between IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson and India trade minister Anand Sharma, the retailer’s concerns over the government’s stipulation that a percentage of products must be sourced from local enterprises seem to have eased. IKEA is intent on driving its business in emerging markets to offset its high level of dependency for top-line growth in Western Europe, a region where IKEA is finding it increasingly difficult to