eCommerce

New York -- As more dollars are spent online and consumers become savvier in product knowledge and comparison shopping, retailers must rethink their customer experience strategies.

Chain Store Age’s Webinar, “Creating the Ultimate Experience: Research Shows How to Increase Customer Loyalty,” will provide insight into how retailers can capture more revenue through a consistent and well-executed customer experience. Webinar attendees will receive a complimentary research report detailing the full research findings.

Boston — Marketing analytics firm Dunnhumby Tuesday announced it has launched Dunnhumby Ventures, an investment firm that will focus on financing retail technology start-ups.  

The company said the new venture will fund startup businesses that are embracing data for innovations along the consumer’s path to purchase. Average initial investments will be $100,000 to $500,000.

Katy, Texas -- Academy Sports + Outdoors will open its first Memphis-area store on Sept. 27, in Collierville, Tenn. In conjunction with the opening, Academy has signed a multi-year partnership with The University of Memphis and its athletics multimedia rights holder, Tiger Sports Properties.

The new 73,000-sq.-ft. Collierville store will be Academy's eighth store in Tennessee.

Rockville, Md. -- Mom’s Organic Market is opening its first Pennsylvania store, in Rosemont Square, Bryn Mawr, which is located outside of Philadelphia.

New York -- VeriFone Systems, a leading global secure electronic payments provider, named Paul Galant as CEO and elected him to its board of directors, effective Oct. 1.

Prior to joining VeriFone, Galant served as the CEO of Citigroup Inc.’s Enterprise Payments business. Before that, from 2009, Galant served as CEO of Citi Cards, heading Citigroup’s North American and International Consumer Credit Cards business.

By Laura Wheeler DeYonker, AbsolutData

Recent data from Harris Poll shows that weaknesses in retailers’ pricing, product information and customer service strategies lead 43% of customers to showroom — creating a situation where brick-and-mortar retailers incur all the sales costs and online retailers make the sale.

If it feels like summer just ended, that’s because it did: the first day of fall was Sept. 22. But you can bet your bottom dollar that retailers aren’t going to let a little thing like the calendar get in the way of moving forward with their holiday plans. In fact, if the recent spate of depressing economic news is any indicator, this year some brands might literally be betting their bottom dollar on the anticipated holiday sales boost.

Toronto – Sears Canada CEO Calvin McDonald has resigned to take a position with an unnamed international company. The retailer named COO and executive VP Douglas C. Campbell as president and CEO.

As COO, Campbell was responsible for retail store operations, logistics, replenishment, IT, corporate procurement, and international sourcing. Prior to joining Sears, Campbell was a principal with Boston Consulting Group and also an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart is launching its first-ever original reality series developed for the web. The new weekly web series highlights 20 finalists in the Walmart Get on the Shelf contest, which lets entrepreneurs present products to Walmart customers.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us, Inc. plans to hire 45,000 employees to staff its stores and distribution centers nationwide for the upcoming holiday season. This number is basically flat from last year’s holiday staffing totals.