Strategy

Driving your car on the beach and the Daytona International Speedway. Those are the things that have long defined Daytona Beach. Those and the legendary Bill France, Sr.   

With its recent acquisition of Jet.com, a commitment to growing its online grocery business with a convenient grocery pick-up option and an extensive investment against delivering a seamless digital shopping experience, Walmart is once again flipping the script on what it means to compete for America's shopping dollar.   The company's investment in grocery pick-up services represents the cover of that new script - and Walmart is expanding that service to 600 stores this year and 500 stores next year.  

While digital disruption continues to stymie a good part of the industry, Sam’s Club is using the concept to its advantage.   The company’s VP of omnichannel member communication and innovation, Darshan Gad, and executive VP of operations Don Frieson, teamed up at the “Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit” event last week in Rogers, Ark., to discuss how the chain is using disruption to drive innovation.  

Anthropologie’ s experiential retailing concept takes center stage under its new store banner, Anthropologie & Co., with the first-ever location now open in Walnut Creek, Calif.   The 30,000-sq.-ft. store is a visual treat, and features fully decorated showrooms, filled to the brim with custom furniture.   

SPECS 2017, the “Retail Event for Store Innovation,” announced that three of the nation’s top financial experts will open the program at the 53rd annual SPECS conference, which will be held March 12-14 at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee (Orlando), Florida.  

Two non-traditional retailers are on the hunt for space to set up shop in the Big Apple.   QVC and Cornerstone, a division of HSN, are looking for real estate to open stores in the Herald Square area of Manhattan, the New York Post reported.  

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores’ is making more executive changes.   The chain appointed Michael Goulder to senior VP, inventory management and supply chain. Chosen for his ability to drive significant performance improvements, Goulder has a track record for linking innovative strategies to operating tactics and leading organizational change, according to a company statement. He will report to the company’s president and CEO, Jill Soltau.  

Digital infrastructures are growing more complex, and taking a toll on decision-making.   Eighty percent (80%) of IT operations leaders reported that end-user experience monitoring (EUM) is very important or critical to delivering business outcomes. However, as distributed infrastructures grow in complexity, it is becoming more difficult to provide information needed to make business decisions, according to a study by analyst and consulting firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).  

To stand out in a crowded category, At Home is rewarding shoppers for their loyalty.   The home décor superstore launched a new credit card program through a partnership with Synchrony Financial. Based on a multi-year agreement, At Home shoppers now have the opportunity to sign up for one of two credit cards that reward them for all brand purchases.