eCommerce

Regardless of the final outcome of its acquisition of Office Depot, Staples just nominated three individuals to its board of directors with unique perspectives on growth.

Curtis Feeny, managing director of Voyager Capital, Deb Henretta, former group president of global e-commerce at Procter & Gamble and John Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker, have been nominated by the Staples board of directors for election at the company’s 2016 annual meeting.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the hottest topics in retail technology. While there has been a lot of talk about IoT’s status as a game-changer for retail, there has been less discussion on exactly how it will drive industry transformation.

Here are three specific ways IoT will bring about a new era in retail operations.

Automatic shopping

Starbucks Corp. reported profit for the second quarter that exceeded expectations, but it disappointed on sales. The chain also offered a third-quarter earnings outlook that was shy of forecasts.

For the quarter ended March 27, Starbucks reported $4.99 billion in sales, up 9% from $4.56 billion in the year-ago period. Although sales set a new record for a non-holiday quarter, they but still fell short of analyst estimates of $5.03 billion.

Net income rose 18% to $575.1 million on strong U.S. sales.

Duluth Holdings just put a key element of its growth strategy in place, choosing cloud commerce solutions provider Demandware to integrate its physical and digital presence.

Going to market under the banner of Duluth Trading Company, the retailer said it selected Demandware to optimize is digital and omnichannel growth strategies.

Hallmark Cards Inc. is ensuring it can effectively offer consumers the chance to create their own personalized products.

The Kansas City-based specialty gift retailer, which operates more than 30,000 U.S. stores as well as digitally, provides a custom gift option which allows shoppers to order items made to their tastes and specifications. This places strain on the company’s research and development (R&D) department.

Troubled teen retailer Aeropostale Inc. has been dealt another blow.

On Friday, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of the retailer’s stock with immediate effect, due to an "abnormally low" trading price.

Aeropostale does not intend to appeal the delisting. It said its shares will instead be traded on the OTCQX Best Market, an over-the-counter market operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. The new ticker is "AROP".

Whether you're in-store or online, the benefits of a personalized customer experience are undeniable. We want salespeople who can help us find exactly what we're looking for as quickly as possible; we return to lunch spots where all we have to ask for is "the usual." For e-tailers, personalization has traditionally relied upon recommendation engines, algorithms that look to match prior consumer clicks and purchases with like-minded cohorts. And personalization is indeed effective for those e-commerce sites.

Shindigz specializes in selling party supplies across mobile, desktop and mobile app channels, and is inviting digital commerce provider Mozu to make the festivities more manageable.