News roundup--Snow+Rock, Play.com, more

Despite the challenging economic climate, Snow+Rock and its group companies Cycle Surgery and Runners Need delivered record turnover in the weeks following the jubilee and London 2012 Olympic Games. Without disclosing specifics, Snow + Rock reported that all three of its websites reported double-digit growth over the last year having benefited from significant investment. The sites have had significant upgrades including a new SLI search tool, ratings and reviews for Snow+Rock and recently launched click and collect service for Cycle Surgery. It has also launched mobile websites for Snow+Rock and Cycle Surgery.

Online crime is costing ecommerce retailers £205.4 million a year. That includes £77.3 million in losses from fraud as well as prevention costs and legitimate business lost as a result of those measures, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Entertainment products retailer Play.com has revealed that its Facebook fans are worth 24 percent more in direct sales than non-fans. In partnership with social marketing platform EngageSciences, Rakuten-owned Play.com analysed the shopping behaviour of its Facebook fans. Results from 2011 also show that shoppers who made their first purchase on Play.com referred through Facebook spent 30 percent more than an average customer in their first year of using the website. Overall, Play.com found that its strategy of actively engaging fans through Facebook helped the online retailer attract more than £2 million in sales in 2011 that can be directly attributed to the social network.

Littlewoods is extending its partnership with Myleene Klass after the TV presenter’s range beat its month one sales target by 14 percent. Klass is working with Littlewoods to design her first lingerie collection, ready for launch later this year. She will also launch ten new lines on Littlewoods.com in the next month and appear in the brand’s autumn and Christmas TV advertising campaigns. Littlewoods said that during July it sold an average of one item every 20 minutes from Myleene’s range.

The Information Commissioner's Office is investigating whether Tesco is not storing customer passwords securely enough. The probe comes after a blogger said Tesco had poor basic security practices and flaws that made it vulnerable to hackers, reports the Telegraph.

Computer maker Dell said revenue in its second quarter was down 8 percent to $14.5 billion (£9.19 billion), while operating income declined 21 percent to $901 million (£571 million). It warned that third-quarter revenue is now expected to be down from 2 percent to 5 percent on second-quarter levels due to difficult market conditions.