eCommerce

New York — Sephora is enhancing its omnichannel appeal by taking a page out of Birchbox’s playbook.

The beauty giant will test a beauty subscription service, called Play! By Sephora, in Boston, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio,  in September, reports Women’s Wear Daily, with additional markets to be added in 2016.

Cincinnati -- Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II, Inc. announced it has acquired Plano Market Street in Plano, Texas, and The West Acres Shopping Center in Fresno, California, for a collective $57.1 million, totaling more than 253,038 sq. ft.

Plano Market Street is a 169,624 sq. ft. grocery store-anchored shopping center in Plano, Texas, just outside Dallas. The center is 94.2% leased, anchored by Market Street and retailers World of Beer, Tony & Guy, and the Little Gym.

Sally Beauty Holdings is feeling the impact of its data breach.

Costs related to a data breach discovered in May, as well as higher selling, general and administrative expenses, helped reduce profit at Sally Beauty during the third quarter of fiscal 2015. Net earnings fell 8% to $62.46 million, from $67.76 million the same period a year earlier.

Net sales rose 2% to $967.89 million, from $949.27 million. Same-store sales increased 2% in the Sally Beauty Supply division and 5.6% in the Beauty Systems division.

The Woodlands, Texas – The decision to stop selling video game products, digital cameras, and certain tablets affected same-store sales at Conn’s Inc. during the second quarter and July fiscal 2016. However, Conn’s still reported total preliminary net retail sales of $325 million during the quarter, up 13% from the prior year period.

Batavia, Ill. – Aldi wants you – if you are someone looking for a store-level retail job.

The rapidly growing discount supermarket retailer will host hiring events throughout the U.S. during the month of August for more than 2,500 positions.

Panama City -- Starbucks Coffee Company has entered its 15th Latin America market.

The coffee giant — together with Premium Restaurants of America, its long-term strategic licensing partner in Central America — has opened its first store in Panama, making it Starbucks 15th market in Latin America and 67th worldwide.

San Diego -- Petco on Thursday today announced several key changes to its leadership team.

In addition to adding chairman responsibilities to CEO Jim Myers' role, the company named Brad Weston as president.

Previously, Weston served as executive VP, chief merchandising officer and president of the company’s Unleashed by Petco unit. The retail veteran joined Petco in October 2011 and led the evolution of the Unleashed by Petco format.

Instagram is hot, and retailers that are interested in marketing their merchandise on the social network have a new option.

Olapic, a vehicle that helps turn consumer-generated photos and videos into brand assets, will be helping to integrate the recently announced Instagram Ads API for brands and retailers to start rolling out campaigns inside the app.