Retail

New York -- According to NRF’s 2015 Mother’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Fuel price management software company PriceAdvantage announced a software integration with P97 Networks’ PetroZone Retail Fuels Module (RFM) powered by Microsoft Dynamics AX modern point-of-sale system (mPOS).

Cincinnati -- Kroger said Monday that it has ended a 12-year joint venture with British consumer data company Dunnhumby and launched its own customer data subsidiary.
 
The new subsidiary will help Kroger set prices in stores and decide which shoppers get certain coupons.  The ending of the joint venture comes after Dunnhumby's parent company, Tesco PLC, said it was seeking strategic options for Dunnhumby.

Sunbury, Pa. — Weis Markets has promoted Brent Mertes to regional VP where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of 51 stores located in South Central Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

He will report to David Gose, senior VP, operations.

Seattle – If access to Amazon.com was not already ubiquitous enough for you, there is a new way to browse and purchase goods on the first major e-commerce platform. Amazon is releasing a new shopping app for the Apple Watch.

Seattle – Net earnings rose 16% to $494.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 from $427 million a year earlier at Starbucks Corp. Cost of sales grew at a slower pace than extremely strong revenue growth, which helped boost profits.

Starbucks plans to open 1,650 net new stores globally during fiscal 2015. This includes 600 new stores in the Americas, half licensed; 200 new stores in Europe/Middle East/Africa, primarily licensed; and 850 new stores in China/Asia-Pacific, primarily licensed.

Hackensack, N.J. – Frequency of customer visits and customer delight are crucial indicators of customer loyalty. According to a new survey of 1,000 adult U.S. consumers from branding firm Strativity Group Inc., almost 40% of customers interact with their favorite company at least weekly.

River Island is putting a new spin on fashion retailing at its store in Birmingham’s Bullring Shopping Centre. The U.K. retailer’s space is based upon the concept of ‘The Event,’ and it’s meant to convey the essence of being at a fashion show or art exhibit, with all the flexibility and “wow” factors inherent in such happenings.