Retail

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has made it clear with recent promotions that it has Amazon.com in its sights, and the retailer is now boning up on back-end fulfillment capability for its e-commerce business. Wal-Mart is opening two new e-commerce distribution facilities Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Madrid, Spain – Spanish retail chains including department store retailer El Corte Ingles and supermarket retailer BonPreu are leveraging a new smartphone-based payment solution. The retailers are deploying the digital payment network from Dinube, which uses tokenization, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and biometric fingerprint security to replace card-based payments.

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co. is extending a partnership that provides a number of financial services to shoppers at its stores. By continuing a 30-plus-year agreement with global payment services provider Western Union, Kroger gives customers the ability to send and receive Western Union money transfer transactions, purchase money orders and pay their bills at more than 2,300 Kroger store locations.

What’s wrong with America? Plenty, according to the National Retail Federation which just slashed its full year retail sales forecast ahead of second quarter earnings announcements from major retailers next month.

New York – Even as retail marketing strategies shift in the new digital era, tried-and-true discounts still remain a crucial promotional device. According to new data from marketing personalization provider Sailthru, 97% of retailers use discounting as a pricing strategy.

Plano, Texas - Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of test preparation company The Princeton Review and online tutoring company Tutor.com, has been elected to The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. board of directors.

Online retailer Jet.com is all about low prices and so far the upstart membership club competitor is living up to it value proposition.

Seattle – Nordstrom Inc. is letting women join the club. More specifically, Nordstrom is now allowing women to apply to its Trunk Club online personal shopper service that was previously only open to men.