eCommerce

Driving sales with an established brand at multiple retail accounts is hard enough for the biggest consumer packaged goods companies. Creating a new brand in a nonexistent category is even more daunting as a pair of entrepreneurial family members discovered a decade ago when they launched the Granite Gold line of stone-care products. This is their story.

Two stone guys with no experience in consumer package goods or retail set out to conquer the world by trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Stuart Weitzman plans to open up a pop-up shop in the digital space. The upscale footwear brand has partnered with the online shopping destination, Gilt, to launch the store, created exclusively by Gilt.

The online pop-up will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Stuart Weitzman’s iconic, over-the-knee 5050 boot and feature a 20-piece Anniversary Collection, which includes ten limited-edition styles.

It’s one down and more than 11,000 to go as Dollar General has opened its first ever fueling station at a store in Hanceville, Ala.

The pilot project is part of an agreement with Mansfield Oil, a provider of fuel supply, distribution, delivery, and dispensing solutions. The store in question is one of Dollar General’s larger format Market stores which include expanded food and consumables. Dollar General operates more than 11,000 stores nationwide, but slightly more than 100 units are in the Market format.

Target is taking a page from Apple and remodeling its electronics department to echo the minimalist format seen in Apple and even Best Buy stores, according to a report in the StarTribune.

 “It’s more a minimalist approach with space for consumers to touch and test the merchandise,” said Chris Christopher, director of consumer electronics at IHS Global Insight in Massachusetts, in the report.

Leading U.K. food retailer Sainsbury just past online grocery sales of £1 billion ($1.6 billion U.S.) and to celebrate the occasion announced plans to open its first dedicated online fulfillment center in east London.

Home delivery of grocery is more commonplace in the U.K., especially London, where higher population densities and prohibitively high fuel prices discourage vehicle ownership.

Open Sky CEO John Caplan and his team at the social-based e-commerce platform are reinventing retail and what a career in the industry looks like in the digital age.

New York -- Rent the Runway, the popular online retailer specializing in rentals of designer dresses and accessories, has entered into its first brick-and-mortar partnership, opening a 1,400-sq.-ft. showroom in the Henri Bendel Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan.

Atlanta -- RadioShack and Citi Retail Services announced a long-term agreement to extend their 28-year consumer credit relationship. Under the agreement, Citi will continue to provide service-enhancing solutions and analytics in support of RadioShack’s targets for growth. RadioShack customers will continue to enjoy comprehensive financing programs and top-tier customer service.

Washington, D.C. – Many online retailers are starting or have started their holiday preparations early this year. According to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, 74% of online retailers had started preparing for the 2013 holiday season by July of this year, and 51% plan to start their holiday promotions by Halloween.

New York — Famous Footwear has leased its second Manhattan location at 48-50 West 14th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Union Square, according to Winick Realty Group. The 7,800-sq.-ft. store is a block-through retail site with 50 feet of frontage on 14th Street and 25 ft. of frontage adjacent to the New School entrance on 13th Street.

Ripco represented Famous Footwear in the transaction. Winick represented the landlord, CB Developers.