Cross-Merchandising

Lululemon Athletica will open the first U.S. outpost of the brand’s design incubator “lab” format in downtown Manhattan, in March.

It’s only the second location for the unusual concept. The first, opened in 2009, is in the company’s hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Party City Holdco Inc. is looking to broaden its e-commerce reach.

The 900-store, vertical operator of the Party City and Halloween City party goods chains is launching a new e-commerce partnership with Staples Inc. Products manufactured and sourced by Party City will be merchandised and sold on Staples.com.

While rumors of Amazon launching a chain of physical bookstores seem to be exaggerated, there is no question that pure-play retailers are beginning to make inroads into the brick-and-mortar channel. Over the past couple of years, e-tailers as diverse as Warby Parker, Bonobos and Birchbox have not only opened stores, but committed themselves to expanding in the space.

Here are a few good reasons for virtual enterprises to consider selling items in a “real” environment.

Buy Online, Pickup at Your Store

A first-of-it-kinds promotion involving Dick’s Sporting Goods and highlighting the capabilities of the UbeRUSH delivery service vows to have championship T-shirts in the hands of Carolina Panthers or Denver Broncos fans less than two hours after the Super Bowl ends.

99 Cents Only has done it again. The company’s penchant for clever promotions will be on display on Valentine’s Day in the parking lot of one of its stores on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

With award season here, Target is hoping shoppers will want to get the red carpet look of their favorite celebrities.

The retailer announced it has begun carrying a favorite skin care line of A-Listers: Embryolisse. The premium assortment features high-end masks, firming creams and cleansing milks that specialize in anti-aging and deep hydration.

Retailers are always looking for new promotional opportunities and with the arrival on the Lunar New Year a mall operator in upstate New York hopes to generate shopper traffic with a range of Chinese-inspired activities.

Shake Shack and Uber have digitally collaborated on customer experience with a little help from Visa Inc.

In December 2015, New York-based, 66-unit Shake Shack and Uber utilized the new Visa Commerce Network to offer a cross-promotion. Built on the VisaNet electronic payment network and accessible through application programming interfaces (APIs), Visa Commerce Network works by connecting transactions between two merchants.