Thanks to some cold weather which makes for some favorable conditions for online shopping (Blizzard in Northeast), holiday season retail online spending is seeing a 13% increase over last year. From comScore release:

comScore a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $30.81 billion has been spent online, marking a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 26) witnessed $2.45 billion in spending, an increase of 17 percent versus the corresponding week last year.

There’s a 12% increase in retail e-commerce spending in the first first 47 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season compared with the same period a year ago.

comScore is reporting that for the holiday season-to-date, $27.46 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 17) reached $5.15 billion in spending, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year, with four individual days surpassing $900 million, led by Green Monday (Monday, December 13) with $954 million and Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 17) with $942 million. A lot of shopper took advantage of the Free Shipping Day which achieved a 61-percent increase versus the corresponding shopping day last year, highlighting the appeal and success of the promotion in which more than 1,500 merchants offered free shipping.

That means Cyber Monday emerged as the season’s heaviest online spending day for the first time in history.

"Free Shipping Day punctuated an exceptional week in which consumers spent more than $5.5 billion online, representing a 14-percent increase from last year," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "While no individual days during the week surpassed $1 billion in spending, we saw strength throughout the week beginning with Green Monday and ending with Free Shipping Day on Friday. At this late juncture in the online holiday season, we have likely already witnessed the peak spending day of the year, which means that Cyber Monday should emerge as the season's heaviest online spending day for the first time in history."

MOD Systems is introducing its Download2Go digital music kiosks in Quick Chek convenience stores.  Consumers no longer need to be dependent on an Internet connection and unlimited data plans to access and build their digital music collections - Download2Go music kiosks enable customers to directly download and purchase digital music tracks for playback on mobile devices, right from convenient retail locations, such as Quick Chek.  These kiosks offer a new way for retailers to engage shoppers, provide entertainment content for purchase and drive repeat customer visits. Download2Go kiosk customers can transfer music onto SD cards, USB drives, or directly to their portable music players, paying for their purchases with a credit card.

From the Press Release:

“Retailers are looking for opportunities to capture customer interest in digital entertainment or take back sales that have shifted from their stores to online,” said Anthony Bay, CEO of MOD Systems. “Consumers can now build their digital music collections outside the home without requiring connectivity, while retailers can sell the latest entertainment content in a way that drives impulse purchases and repeat customer visits.”

Check out this Video on how the Digital Music Kiosk works:

MOD Systems Digital Music Kiosk

Branded retail apps are hot right now—they’re sexy, but they’re also an effective way to connect with customers. A new service from ILoveVelvet, launched today, combines mobile and social media elements in app form, and allows direct engagement for fans of individual retail brands.

Velvet VIP is a branded mobile application that allows retailers to offer e-catalogs, special promotions, personal recommendations and even collection previews. The social media elements enable consumers to provide feedback directly to the retailer and share with friends via Facebook and Twitter.  Customers can even pre-order items through the app—meaning that they don’t have to put their names on a waiting list for that hot designer bag.

ILoveVelvet, a leading provider of technology to enhance the retail customer experience, has launched Velvet VIP, a customized retail application designed to reward loyal fans of specific brands. The application, developed for retailers and available to customers enrolled in loyalty programs, provides personalized shopping recommendations based on customer interests and purchases, along with special benefits not available to the general public.  The entire system also has built-in options to share reviews via social media.

Velvet VIP, a customer-facing adaptation of ILoveVelvet’s Velvet Suite and Velvet Store software, engages directly with customers on Apple iPads, iPods and iPhones. The retailer controls the interface branding and available content, so that customers have an encounter consistent with the in-store experience. Velvet VIP also offers a social media component, through which customers can push reviews out to Facebook and Twitter and become unofficial brand ambassadors.

Press Release.

Retailers need to leverage every successful opportunity in the coming year, but do they have the visibility to identify them in a timely way?

Distributing timely and accurate information across the retail enterprise to support distinctive business successes is the envy of every retailer.  Without the right systems to distribute the data and tools to bring focus to the information, opportunities quickly fade from view.  Does your business get the word out and empower field managers, analysts and executives to initiate change?

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that NYC-based apparel manufacturer Bernard Chaus is using SKYPAD delivered analytics through cloud computing to improve sales, analyze in-season buying trends, and track the hottest selling products by store -- down to style, size and color. SKYPAD is enabling Managers at all levels of the organization to make informed decisions based on the timely and accurate receipt of sales data, providing the flexibility to react globally and locally to instant trends. 

Bernard Chaus, Inc., a midsize manufacturer and distributor of women's career and casual sportswear, was looking to streamline its sales and merchandising efforts and create a detailed, accurate view of weekly sales trends for their decision makers. With previous manual data collection processes and Excel spreadsheets, there was no guarantee that sales information was correct or all inclusive, compromising the company's ability to react to fluctuations in sales.

Working with IBM and IBM Business Partner SKY I.T. Group, the company developed an analytics-based solution called SkyPAD that provides a weekly report of key business metrics via a web-based dashboard.  The dashboard enables improved decision making across product pricing, assortment design, production and distribution.  Using the system, Chaus can quickly spot fast selling items, shift products between stores, adjust pricing and make in-season adjustments based on proven consumer demand.  Chaus also has the capability to instantly compare profit margins across different retail outlets to identify future brand positioning strategies. 

SKYPAD Enables Retailers to:

- Get comprehensive retailer reports faster

- Automate reporting into ONE easy to use platform

- Easily analyze data based on YOUR specific initiatives

- Seamlessly integrate spreadsheets, EDI and portal data into ONE view

- Increase accuracy, productivity and team focus

- Utilize images, scalability and consistency not possible with Excel

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