Consumer Electronics

Atlanta -- Assurant Solutions and Nebraska Furniture Mart celebrated the 10th anniversary of their relationship by signing a multi-year contract extension recently, covering underwriting and administration of extended service contracts on appliances and electronics.

Westlake Village, Calif. -- Hhgregg ranks highest among appliance retailer websites, with a score of 865, up by a significant 41 points from 2013, according to the J.D. Power 2014 Appliance Shopper Website Evaluation Study. The improvement is attributed to an increase in the speed of the website, up 63 points to 875, and a redesign of the website review section to include the highest and lowest customer appliance ratings at the top of the site.  Following Hhgregg in the rankings are The Home Depot (842) and Best Buy and Lowe's in a tie (839).

PHOENIX -- DM Analytics, a leading provider of retail-focused software solutions, has added an EDI/Invoice Reconciliation solution to a comprehensive application suite that also incorporates ordering, receiving, shelf price audit, inventory and tag & sign modules.

Brookstone president and CEO James M. Speltz has resigned. The product development company and specialty retailer with 240 stores in malls and airports across the U.S has appointed chief merchandising officer Steve Schwartz as interim president and CEO.  

Cambridge, Mass. -- Highland Consumer Partners, a growth-stage venture capital firm focused on the consumer sector, announced that retail executive Marty Hanaka joined the firm in August of this year as an operating partner.

Hanaka most recently was the interim CEO of Guitar Center, from January 2013 to April 2013.  

Previously, he served as the chairman of Golfsmith International Holdings, from April 2007 to November 2012, and was CEO from June 2008 to November 2012.   

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation give away so much money it is hard to keep track of it all and this was certainly evident during the holiday season.

On Thursday, the company announced another round of grants totaling $200,000 to 10 nonprofits groups as part of its “12 Days of Giving” Facebook campaign. Those grants mark the culmination of an innovating corporate giving campaign that integrated social media and resulted in a total of $1.5 million being awarded to 145 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Apple Pay has some unique competitive advantages that should make it a major factor in the world of mobile commerce. Consumers pay by simply swiping their finger. Any credit card associated with a user’s existing iTunes account is automatically included, and adding a new card is as easy as snapping a photo with the phone’s camera. With more than 200 million existing iTunes accounts and a large base of iPhone devotees, consumer adoption of Apple Pay should grow quickly.

By Howard W. Herndon, BlackLine Payments Advisors

While much of the attention at this week’s Apple press conference was on the iPhone 6 and the company’s new smartwatch, we believe — along with many industry analysts — that the most important news of the splashy event was Apple Pay, the company’s new mobile payments system.