Cyber Monday to test limits of retailers’ websites as shoppers scour deals at Reuters. “…expected to be the largest U.S. online shopping day in history, yielding $7.8 billion in sales or 17.6 percent growth over last year, according to Adobe Analytics.” Read more

 

Lowe’s, J.Crew, Lululemon, Walmart, and Ulta experienced problems with their websites crashing on Black Friday at Business Insider. “Lowe’s apologized to customers on Twitter and temporarily shut down the site. It was relaunched on Friday afternoon around 2.30 p.m. ET.” Read more

 

Airbnb hires Amazon VP Dave Stephenson as CFO ahead of its anticipated IPO in 2019 at CNBC. “Stephenson spent 17 years as Amazon, most recently as VP and CFO of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer Organization, responsible for all global website sales.” Read more

 

Taxes may be a bigger part of online shopping this season by Jessica Gresko at AP. “California, Texas, New York and Florida, do not yet have similar collection requirements in place. As a result, consumers shopping online from those states and others that have yet to act may not be charged sales tax on some websites for a little longer.” Read more

 

Kohl’s hits record sales day online on Thanksgiving, selling 60 Instant Pots per minute at CNBC. “CEO Michelle Gass…said 80 percent of traffic online came from mobile devices…(selling) 40 Fitbit devices per minute. She said cozy items like a “tranquility blanket” were popular, in addition to athletic apparel.” Read more

 

Black Friday pulled in a record $6.22 billion in online sales: Adobe Analytics at CNBC. “Online sales Black Friday jumped 23.6 percent from a year ago…first day in history to see more than $2 billion in sales stemming from smartphones…Cyber Monday sales online are expected to set a new record of $7.8 billion, up nearly 18 percent from last year.” Read more

 

Over a third of all Black Friday web sales were made on smartphones by Carl Campanile at NY Post. “More than $2 billion of Black Friday sales were done on smartphones this year — blowing past a $1.4 billion record set by last year’s Cyber Monday shoppers, according to an Adobe Analytics report.” Read more

 

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Lord & Taylor prepares to say goodbye to Fifth Avenue by Verena Dobnik at AP. “Lord & Taylor plans to close its longtime flagship in January after one last blowout sale. Next year, the 11-story, Italian Renaissance-style building covering a whole city block will be taken over by WeWork, the workspace leasing company.” Read more

 

Vegas Is Now Home to the ‘World’s Biggest’ Weed Store by Craig Giammona. “Housed in a 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-meter) building—with retail space, back offices and room for weed cultivation—the store opened earlier this month just off the Strip in the shadow of the Palazzo, Treasure Island and the Wynn.” Tiered subs.

 

UPS’s Christmas Wish: A Delivery Surge It Can Handle by Paul Ziobro at Wall Street Journal. “FedEx has had relatively flawless peak service for a long time and they’re perceived as relatively riskless compared to UPS,” said Rick Paterson, a transportation analyst at Loop Capital.” WSJ subs.

 

Argentina says close to inking a two-way beef deal with U.S. at Reuters. Read more

 

CoverGirl unveils Times Square store with focus on Instagram by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “There’s also a hologram customer greeter at the entrance named Olivia who offers advice — including directions to the nearest subway. Makeup artists are on hand for free 15-minute sessions or a 60-minute session with a minimum purchase of $60 worth of products. Also available for sale for the first time are CoverGirl accessories like a $50 bomber jacket.” Read more

 

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