Costco December Comp +5% in US  "Costco reported net sales of $12.12 billion for the month of December, the five weeks ended January 4, 2015, an increase of five percent from $11.53 billion during the similar period last year." Read the release   Family Dollar Q1 Comp Decreased 0.4% "December Comparable Store Sales Increase 1.2%" Read the release   Amazon Bought This Man's Company. Now He's Coming for Them by Brad Stone at Bloomberg. "(Marc Lore) wants to reinvent the wholesale shopping club. Jet plans to open for business on a “friends-and-family” basis in January and will start limited [...]

  Walgreens December Sales Increase 10.2 Percent "Total front-end sales increased 3.5 percent compared with the same month in fiscal 2014, while comparable store front-end sales increased 2.6 percent. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.3 percent while basket size increased 2.3 percent." Read more   Costco's Web Site Loaded Quickest Over the Holidays by April Dahlquist at Internet Retailer. "Costco’s site loaded on average in 2.581 seconds on a desktop computer...A Harris Poll survey Dynatrace commissioned found that 46% of all smartphone and tablet users indicated that they will abandon an app or web site if it takes more [...]

  Online sales up 14 percent during holidays by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz at Chicago Tribune. "The growth was more dramatic than the previous year. Online sales grew 8.5 percent during the 2013 holidays compared with the same period in 2012. People spent less per transaction, though. The average online order value dropped 8 percent in 2014 to $119.33." Read more   Home Depot & Walgreens have the best In-Store Mobile Apps by Sarah Mahoney at Media Post. "L2 taps Walgreens and the Home Depot as the winners for in-store mobile apps, citing Walgreens' enormous popularity with shoppers: It is used by [...]

  Bloomberg: Target CEO $47 Million Retirement Illustrates 401(k) Gap by Carol Hymowitz & Margaret Collins. "In response to shareholder feedback, we embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of our executive compensation programs to even better align compensation with company performance,” said Eric Hausman, a spokesman for Target." Read more   GM to Offer Retailers a New Route to Reach Drivers by Christina Rogers at WSJ. "The Detroit auto giant, which offers high-speed Wi-Fi in its vehicles, is introducing a new in-car service this year allowing drivers to get coupons from local retailers and make hotel reservations while driving down the road. [...]