Strategy

Seattle – Amazon.com is always trying to improve its overseas operations, and now the e-commerce titan is “getting the picture” in the U.K. market. According to TechCrunch, Amazon has opened a 46,000-sq.-ft. photography studio in London.

Oak Brook, Ill. – Retail Properties of America Inc. (RPAI) has named Heath R. Fear as its new CFO and treasurer, effective Aug. 17. Fear will play a key role in the continued execution of the company’s portfolio and balance sheet strategy, in addition to oversight of all of financial activities, including capital markets, accounting, investor relations, internal audit, internal reporting and treasury.

Houston - Transwestern represented Mod Pizza in five leases totaling approximately 13,662 sq. ft. in the Houston market. Grant Walker, VP, and Chris Reyes, broker associate, who serve as exclusive advisors for Mod Pizza in the Houston market, represented the retailer in the transactions.

Mod will be operating more than 100 stores across the U.S. by the end of 2015 and has plans to open more than 30 additional locations in Houston within the next four to five years.

Mod Pizza’s newest Houston locations include:

San Francisco - Gap Inc. is supporting front-end omnichannel retail operations with back-end seamless inventory capabilities. Using a “seamless inventory” model supported by technology from GT Nexus, Gap focuses on having the right products at the right time for the right channel.

Seattle – Everyone from mass merchandisers to dollar stores has been getting into the grocery business in recent years, and the vertical may soon have a new and very large participant.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. is reportedly planning to expand upon existing solar plans for its North Carolina store base. According to the Charlotte Business Journal, Target has added eight stores to the existing 19 stores in the state it plans to equip with rooftop solar panels.

Seattle – Last month Facebook overtook Wal-Mart in valuation, and now another digital giant has reportedly achieved the same feat. According to the Associated Press, after intense after-hours trading, which followed Amazon’s rare report of a second quarter fiscal 2015 profit, Amazon now has market capitalization of about $264 billion.

Seattle - Starbucks Corp. is looking to increase its corporate ownership stake. The retailer has authorized the repurchase of an additional 50 million shares of the company's common stock under its ongoing share repurchase program.

This authorization has no expiration date and is in addition to the 11 million shares that remained available for repurchase as of June 28, 2015 under an existing authorization.

Data security has been a hot topic in the world of retail IT lately. Based on some recent retail data security-related news items, I have compiled a list of two don’ts and one do when it comes to securing your data.

Don’t outsource whole portions of your e-commerce platform

West Elm plans to open a 10,000-square-foot shop in one of the most up and comng urban centers in the South.

The store will open with West Elm’s fall 2015 product assortment, a suite of complimentary design services and feature crafted goods by nine local artists and makers as part of West Elm’s “Local” initiative. The new store is expected to bring an estimated 25-30 jobs to the Charleston community.