House of Fraser has appointed Norbert Dentressangle to manage its multichannel fulfillment. The role will include supporting the department store as it looks to grow its multichannel sales.

Delivery of music and merchandise for more than 70 Universal Music artists are to be managed by arvato UK & Ireland under a new outsourcing contract. The deal will see stocks of CDs, DVDs, clothing and vinyl records sold through online stores for Take That, Lady Gaga and The Rolling Stones managed by arvato, which will also be responsible for related customer service enquiries.

Beauty brand Clarins has launched its France site, the latest in a largescale digital rollout that will cover 16 countries. Already some 18 sites have gone live, with more still to come, including a range of m-commerce sites.

DX Group has opened a new distribution and sorting centre aimed at helping it establish itself as a leader in online retail. The company is targeting the ecommerce industry at a time of fast growth.

Shares in online grocer Ocado fell but then recovered on the news that its finance director, Andrew Bracey, is to leave. An accompanying shake-up of the board will mean ‘greater freedom’ for chief executive Tim Steiner to take the Ocado strategy forward, said its chairman, Michael Grade.

Tesco has reported online sales up by more than 14% in the six weeks to January 12, while online grocer Ocado reported a 16% rise in the four weeks to December 25.

UK online sales showed their strongest sales rise for more than a year, thanks to a ‘dazzling’ Christmas, while high street sales also grew. But the authors of the BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor warn that the positive news is a one off rather than a continuing trend.

The top online traders are racing away from the competition, achieving much faster download speeds for their webpages over the Christmas season.

LIngerie retailer La Senza is clearing its stocks and closing stores, and is expected to call in the administrators in coming days. The company is among a number struggling as high street footfall declines.

Aurora Fashion has boosted the management teams at its multichannel Coast, Oasis and Warehouse brands as it prepares for further international and domestic expansion in 2012.

A tweet from Take That star and X Factor Gary Barlow sent thousands to online sweet shop AQuarterOf. The company has declined to say what Barlow brought from them, but the spike in traffic has also meant a boost to pre-Christmas orders.

City Link has won a £1.5m contract to deliver goods for multichannel retailer JML, to both its retail and consumer clients from its South Shields warehouse base.

Department store chain John Lewis has reported its best-ever week, both on and offline. The news came as Verdict Research said consumers questioned between November 28 and December 4 planned to spend the same or more than they did last year.

Cycling and tri-sport retailer Wiggle has changed hands for £180m. Under its new ownership the company is planning to step up its international expansion, which already sees it sell to 88 countries through nine different language websites.

Wiggle has launched its website in Russian and Chinese, targeting markets that it says represent “a huge opportunity” for it.
The move takes its total number of sites to 10: the bike and trisports retailer …

Online sales website Vente Privee is 10 years old. The company, which has turned over £940m so far this year, has plans for expansion.

Online retail sites are launching a week of discounts, in a bid to kickstart the Christmas spending rush. The online events mirror high street efforts to bring in more shoppers through early price reductions and promotions.

eBay says its acquisition of Hunch.com will improve the recommendations that its customers see. The buy brings its patented ‘taste graph’ prediction technology.

As fashionistas complain that H&M’s website crashed under the weight of consumer expectations of its Versace collection, ecommerce suppliers have advice for retailers on how to avoid similar outages.

Some 9% of shoppers will shy away from ordering online because of bad experiences in the past, says a study from Postcode Anywhere. Consumers singled out a range of factors behind previous disappointments, including overloaded networks and bad weather.