S&P Global Announces $1 Billion Accelerated Share Repurchase Transaction

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it is aligning its workforce with its store optimization strategy and reduced store footprint. JCPenney has identified 152 store closures following a comprehensive evaluation of store performance and strategic fit for the Company and is having ongoing productive negotiations with landlords. The announcement follows a lengthy, structured, and thoughtful decision-making process. In connection with this organizational realignment, the Company will reduce its workforce by approximately 1,000 corporate, field management, and international positions. This organizational restructuring will create a smaller, more financially flexible company, and will help ensure JCPenney emerges from both Chapter 11 and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as an even stronger retailer.

Every holiday season, major parcel carriers and courier services add surcharges to cover the increased volume of packages they must deliver through the final quarter of the year. Not surprisingly, this year’s surcharges are larger and broader than ever before. In fact, 2020 may go down as the largest “peak season” in history, given the e-commerce boom that happened from the coronavirus pandemic, which shifted sales to e-commerce and away from in-person shopping. FedEx and UPS both saw 20 percent increases in packing volume through May, while USPS was hit with a massive 50 percent increase in packages they delivered through June. Switching to the leading parcel companies may save you from the potential of late or lost packages — but the peak season surcharges will affect companies of all sizes. Each carrier has specific criteria by which they assess and apply surcharges, but there are packaging strategies that can be deployed to lower fees regardless of which service you’re using.

Adobe released online shopping data for the first four months of 2024, covering the period from Jan. 1 to Apr. 30, 2024. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing commerce transactions online, covering over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Adobe Analytics is part of Adobe Experience Cloud, relied upon by over 85% of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S.* to deliver, measure and personalize shopping experiences online. Consumers spent $331.6 billion online from Jan. 1 to Apr. 30, 2024, up 7% year-over-year (YoY). The growth has been supported by stable spend in discretionary categories including electronics and apparel, along with a continued surge in grocery shopping online. Adobe expects the first half of 2024 to drive over $500 billion in spend online, representing 6.8% YoY growth.