eCommerce

The e-commerce landscape just shifted with the announcement Salesforce will purchase Demandware for $2.8 billion.
 
Demandware’s recently enhanced flagship Commerce Cloud platform is one of the leading e-commerce solutions on the market. Notable retail Demandware users include Lands’ End, Marks & Spencer, Urban Decay, and True Religion. According to figures released by IHL in December 2015, Demandware is the number two retail SaaS company by installed revenue, trailing only Microsoft.
 

Galeries Lafayette Group is the latest retail entity to launch its own tech accelerator program.

The French specialty retail conglomerate, which operates the Galeries Lafayette, BHV Marais, Royal Quartz, Louis Pion and Didier Guérin banners, is partnering with Silicon Valley-based technology accelerator and venture fund Plug and Play in the effort. The three-month program aims to develop an integrated platform to assist startups focused on the fashion and retail sectors. It will include access to venture capitalists, mentors, and Fortune 500 companies.

Ahold USA first quarter sales were up 4% to $8.2 billion. Excluding gas, sales increased 4.1% at constant exchange rates. The addition of 25 A&P stores in the New York Metro market in fourth quarter 2015 was the main contributor to the overall sales growth and resulted in an overall market share improvement in both dollars and volume, Ahold reported.

Ahold USA first quarter sales were up 4% to $8.2 billion. Excluding gas, sales increased 4.1% at constant exchange rates. The addition of 25 A&P stores in the New York Metro market in fourth quarter 2015 was the main contributor to the overall sales growth and resulted in an overall market share improvement in both dollars and volume, Ahold reported.

A company named after the first reptile to develop the feather for flight is opening freestanding stores.
 
Arc’teryx Equipment, a Canadian manufacturer and retailer of high-performance outdoor apparel and equipment, will open a store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood this July. It will follow that up with a store in Chicago’s Buckhead neighborhood in August, and one at Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall in October, giving it a total of 11 locations.

With a fast-growing $1.5 trillion grocery market, China is the ultimate prize for Wal-Mart, according to an Associated Press report. But the retailer will have to adapt to succeed in what it is a very different marketplace than America.

“If the Arkansas-based company wants to win over foreign consumers, it has to shed some of its American ways, and cater to very different customs and conventions that are fast changing,” the report said.

Five Below is expanding at a fast clip this year.

The extreme-value brand for pre-teens and teens will open its first store in Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City, on June 3, 2016.  

A second store Oklahoma, in Edmond, will open on June 24, 2016.

The Philadelphia-based chain is one of the fastest growing retailers in the country. It plans to open approximately 85 new stores in 2016, up from 71 stores in 2015.
 

A new report from HRC Advisory finds that retailers’ online sales are eroding in-store sales and taking a big bite out of retail profitability. Chain Store Age editor Marianne Wilson spoke with Antony Karabus, CEO, HRC Advisory, about the study and its implications for retailers. 

What did you find most surprising in the study findings?