Walmart

Fast-fashion for plus-sized women: That’s what eloquii.com is on a mission to deliver. While a retail format that offers runway-inspired looks for shoppers sized 14 to 24 is a no-brainer, the concept is practically radical in fast-fashion retailing.

New York -- Retail sales this holiday season will grow about 4%, according to a survey by brand loyalty and customer engagement consultancy Brand Keys.   In the 2014 Brand Keys Holiday Shopping survey, 54% of consumers indicated they were going to start holiday shopping in November, “a trend we’ve commented upon for a number of years,” said Brand Keys founder and president Robert Passikoff.    

CurrentC, the mobile payment service under development from a retailer consortium known as Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, has been getting a lot of attention in the past week. First MCX members CVS and Rite Aid disabled their NFC payment systems to block the rival ApplePay mobile payment service, and then hackers stole the emails of CurrentC users. And despite all this publicity, CurrentC is still in pilot mode.  

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart is upping the ante on holiday shopping. The chain announced that, starting Saturday, Nov. 1, it will reduce prices on more than 20,000 items. Walmart is also launching its holiday promotions on the first weekend in November to get a jump on what is expected to be a highly competitive selling season.  

Minneapolis –- Hair salon chain Regis Corp. and specialty footwear retailer Red Wing Shoes both recently engaged Insight Inc. to refresh their store systems.

 

Regis rolled out the Insight Retail Ready program to refresh its network infrastructure, server, wireless and points of sale in more than 2,000 U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico SmartStyle salons located in Wal-Mart stores. 

New York –- CurrentC, a mobile payment service still in pilot mode from a group of retailers known as the Merchant Consumer Exchange (MCX), has reportedly been hit by hackers. According to CNN, MCX has sent a warning to participants in the CurrentC pilot that criminals obtained access to the email addresses of all consumers who have signed up for the service.  

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to close about 30 underperforming Seiyu stores in Japan. Wal-Mart first invested in Seiyu in 2002 and took full control of the chain in 2008.