Retail

Pier I Imports is getting personal in its online marketing efforts, delivering individualized content to customers that is based on their previous shopping activity.

The retailer has partnered with Certona, a provider of real-time omnichannel personalization, to deliver a “hyper-personalized omnichannel experience” to shoppers.

At one point or another, anyone discussing the future of personalization in offline retail has quoted the film Minority Report, where virtual billboards scan Tom Cruise, and immediately customize their message. The virtual assistant in Gap refers to the last time he entered the store, and inquires about his recent purchase.

Now, 13 years later, some of these technologies are becoming mainstream. For example, large retailers like Target and venues like the new Levi’s Stadium are equipped with beacons to customize your experience.

The world’s biggest online shopping holiday got off to a roaring start in China.

In the first 90 minutes of the “Singles Day” sale, which kicked off at 12 midnight in Beijing on Nov. 11, total sales exceeded $5 billion, Alibaba reported. About 74% of sales were from mobile phones.

Estimates are that annual shopping extravaganza could reach as high as $11 billion in sales.

Alex Gourlay, Walgreens Boots Alliance's executive VP and Walgreens president, on Tuesday provided a snapshot of Walgreens U.S. market strategy, including how the proposed Rite Aid acquisition folds into that strategy, during the Credit Suisse 2015 Healthcare Conference here.

Nearly one-third of retailers surveyed by JLL say they plan to open on Thanksgiving Day in order to get a jump on Black Friday sales.

JLL’s 2015 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, also reveals more than half of those retailers expect an uptick in shopper traffic this year.

With a little over two weeks until Black Friday weekend, Best Buy, HHgregg and other retailers are hoping many U.S. consumers have made shopping after Thanksgiving dinner a holiday tradition.

The consumer electronics retailers joined a growing list of retailers that released their Thanksgiving 
plans this week. Both Best Buy and HHgregg have decided to keep their same holiday sales plans from last year.

A new project has the possibility of positioning Albertsons for greater growth as the company aims to expand by buying back some of the stores it unloaded last year as a result of a deal with Safeway.

Albertsons has announced it has completed a $4.8 million renovation of the company's Culinary Kitchens & Technical Center in California. The project, which was in development before the Albertsons-Safeway merger was announced, came to fruition this month in a 33,000-square-foot facility in Dublin, Calif., near the company's Pleasanton corporate campus.

 Any toy purchased at Meijer through Nov. 30 will help the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer grant a child's wish this holiday season.

Meijer is once again donating a portion of customer purchases made in the toy department, up to $400,000, to children's gift-giving programs throughout the Midwest.