International Business

IBM aims to let retailers get more personal with their customers. As part of a general release of new cloud-based industry platforms, IBM is introducing a Retail Consumer Experience platform.

Charlotte, N.C. -- The Chambers Group, an X Team International partner and full-service real estate brokerage firm announced that Jenn Olevitch-Roberson has joined the company as partner to lead the company’s second location in Raleigh, North Carolina. The office will open Oct. 1, and, over the course of the next 12 months, The Chambers Group will add approximately six new and seasoned brokers to their team in Raleigh.

IBM aims to increase the solutions and services it offers the retail industry with two new centers. On Sept. 24, IBM opened a new global headquarters for IBM Commerce and new hub for its Watson artificial intelligence platform in San Francisco.

In addition, IBM is partnering with The Fung Group on a new large-scale laboratory for rapid experimentation with omnichannel retail technologies, which opened in Shanghai, China on Sept. 24.

Nine large U.S. companies on Wednesday committed themselves to achieving a major sustainability goal — and three of them are retailers.

Walmart, Starbucks and Nike are among the firms joining RE100, a global initiative led by The Climate Group to engage, support and showcase influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. Other firms joining the campaign include Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce, Steelcase, Voya Financial.

Neiman Marcus reported modest sales and a reduced loss for fourth quarter as it eyes an initial public stock offering and a bright omnichannel future.

Neiman Marcus posted a net loss of $32.9 million for the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $42.1 million in the year ago period.

Revenues at the company’s 43 full-line department stores and 42 Last Call off-price stores increased 4.9% to $1.17 billion. Same-store sales increased 1.9% for the fourth quarter ended Aug. 1.

Neiman Marcus reported modest sales growth and a reduced loss for its recently ended fourth quarter as the operator of 85 stores eyes an initial public stock offering and a bright omnichannel future.
 

The nation’s leading automotive retailer ended its most recent fiscal year the same way it has for the past nine years – with double-digit profit growth and a favorable outlook for the coming year.

The upcoming Oct. 1 deadline for retailers to accept EMV-compliant, chip-based payment cards or face increased fraud liability mandates that retailers read card information stored in chips. However, the mandate does not specify whether the card be further verified by a PIN number or customer signature, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has a clear preference.