United Wheels Elevates Bruno Maier to Chief Executive Officer
Maier has deep roots and a proven track record of success in the cycling industry. He started his career as a sales associate at Huffy 30 years ago. He joined UW in 2017 as the president of Allite, Inc., and most recently served as president and COO of United Wheels.
StockX Breaks Pre-Cyber Weekend Trades Record; Sees Continued Momentum Into Holidays
Asics is one of the fastest-growing sneaker brands on StockX and will set a new sales record in 2024. Top picks throughout the weekend included the Asics Gel-1130 Black Pure Silver and the Asics Gel-Kayano 14 Cream Black Metallic Plum.
Report: Footwear and Apparel Among Bright Spots for Weaker Store Traffic
“Categories like Apparel, Footwear, and Jewelry saw notable traffic increases on the Saturday following Black Friday, indicating that consumers are spreading out their purchases, revealing a shift in shopping behavior, with extended promotions allowing for more flexibility and reducing reliance on Black Friday.
Report: Online Spending Grew Mid-Teens During Week Ahead of Cyber Five Weekend
Shoppers drove online sales for the critical five-day Cyber Five shopping period up 6 percent in the U.S. versus the comparative period last year, but posted double-digit growth in the week leading up to the all-important weekend.
NRF Reports Thanksgiving Weekend Shopper Numbers Fell Short of 2023 Comp Period
The five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday saw an estimated 197.0 million shoppers, reportedly the second highest number in the NRF’s survey’s history after last year’s record of 200.4 million shoppers—exceeding its initial forecast of 183.4 million.
Thermore Appoints VP of Global Marketing and Communications
Laura Beachy has been appointed VP of global marketing and communications. She joins Thermore from Hyla Strategies, a NYC-based boutique marketing firm, where she served as a managing partner since 2014.
NSSF: NICS Background Checks Down 9.8 Percent for Thanksgiving Week
NSSF said it has worked with firearm retailers to spread out special sales offers to customers throughout the week leading up to Black Friday so as not to overwhelm FBI NICS on a single day, which can result in longer than normal wait times.
Academy Sports + Outdoors Opens Five New Stores to Finish Out 2024
New stores opened in Bradenton, FL; Yulee, FL; Searcy, AR; Meridian, MS; and Corsicana, TX. Overall, Academy continued its expansion in 2024 by opening 16 new stores during the year across ten states, including its first locations in Ohio.
Purpose Brands Appoints CEO
Tom Leverton most recently served as an operating partner at Pritzker Private Capital, co-leading the firm’s services sector activities. Prior to that, he was the CEO of CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, Topgolf, and Omniflight, and chief development officer at FedEx Office.
Amer Sports Launches Public Share Offering of 34M Shares
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds it receives from the proposed offering to repay a portion of its outstanding borrowings under its term loan facilities.
Mastercard SpendingPulse: Black Friday Sales Grow 3.4 Percent; E-Commerce Up 15 Percent
The firm reported that their data indicated online retail (e-commerce) sales increased 14.6 percent, while In-store (brick & mortar) sales were up a more modest 0.7 percent, compared to Black Friday last year.
Crunch Franchise to Open Fourth Crunch Fitness in San Antonio
The facility will be the fourth Crunch Fitness to open in San Antonio operated by Crunch Fitness franchisee The Undefeated Tribe.
Akaso Appoints U.S. Director of Sales
Eric Squires will take on the role of director of sales for the U.S., overseeing all wholesale, professional and direct sales of the company’s action cameras, Seemor night vision goggles and accessories.
Collegiate Licensing Pioneer Bill Battle Passes
Battle helped the University of Alabama create a licensing department, which led to his founding of the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) and what became a multi-billion dollar industry for collegiate licensing.
Xpedition Archery Taps Into Outtech Sales Services
The company said its exponential growth in 2024 required an expansion in sales coverage across the U.S. to meet customer demand and continue to fully service accounts.
