eCommerce

Walmart is launching a new tool to give shoppers more reasons to use their Walmart credit and prepaid cards. 

The retailer is rolling out a new, simplified rewards program to bring more value to the everyday purchases customers make using the Walmart family of credit and prepaid cards. Walmart's new 3-2-1 Save cash back program will provide all qualifying cardholders in the U.S. and Puerto Rico with the opportunity to earn rewards for purchases they make, including:

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Stefan Weitz, head of product and strategy at eBay Enterprise, about the changing nature of omnichannel retail and what it means for fulfillment strategies.

How important is it for today’s retailers to have omnichannel fulfillment capability?

A few days after announcing a new fulfillment center in Edgerton, Kansas, Amazon.com is unveiling plans for another new center that will serve customers a little further west.

Amazon plans to open a seventh California fulfillment center in San Bernardino, where the company launched its first Golden State fulfillment center in the state in 2012. The retailer currently employs more than 12,000 full-time hourly associates at its six existing California locations and says it will hire more than 1,000 full-time employees in the new San Bernardino facility.

Production and shipping delays related to its new collection of modern furniture, which it also has launched as a standalone business, are taking a toll on Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. as the high-end retailer issued a weak outlook for the current quarter.

Restoration Hardware (RH) reported its fourth-quarter earnings slid to $33.3 million, or 79 cents a share, from $42.5 million, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 98 cents a share, which fell short of its own projection released in February.

As it moves to distance itself from the turbulence that marked its past two years, American Apparel Inc. has named three apparel industry executives to its revamped board of directors.

The retailer, which emerged from bankruptcy protection in February, appointed Paul R. Charron, former CEO of Liz Claiborne, as chairman, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Payments processing company Square is launching new APIs that will open its platform to seamlessly conduct transactions in-store or digitally.

A new e-commerce API will allow retailers of all sizes to accept payments for transactions on their websites. It provides a hosted Javascript library that embeds a secure credit card form on the page. A one-time use token encrypts the customer’s payment information as it travels to the retailer’s application server, which then sends the card notice and payment details to Square for processing.

A few days after announcing a new fulfillment center in Edgerton, Kansas, Amazon.com is unveiling plans for another new center that will serve customers a little further west.

Amazon plans to open a seventh California fulfillment center in San Bernardino, where the company launched its fulfillment center in the state in 2012. The retailer currently employs more than 12,000 full-time hourly associates at its six existing California locations and says it will hire more than 1,000 full-time employees in the new San Bernardino facility.

Extreme-value tween and teen retailer Five Below enters a new market on April 1, with the opening of three stores in Louisiana.

“Entering Louisiana is an important step as we continue to expand our rapidly growing footprint across the country,” said Joel Anderson, CEO of Five Below, which operates 444 stores in 27 states.

The stores in Louisiana are located in the towns of Covington, Lafayette, and Slidell. They are included in the 85 new locations Five Below has planned for 2016. In 2015, the chain opened 71 stores.