eCommerce

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Office Depot is not forgetting college students during the highly competitive back-to-school season, and to meet that segment’s unique needs, it has teamed up with Chegg, a student hub that offers various services to college students, including textbook rentals.

NEW YORK — Gilt.com has launched a free rewards program called Gilt Insider Program, which will offer Gilt members opportunities to score points redeemable for a variety of benefits.

Members can earn points simply for interacting with the site, and can then redeem them to shop sales early, earn access to discounts, get free shipping and attend exclusive events.

Austin, Texas – Digital coupon provider RetailMeNot launches its IPO on Friday of 9,090,908 shares of its Series 1 common stock at a price to the public of $21 per share. Shares will be available on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol "SALE." Of the shares in the offering, 4,545,454 shares are being offered by RetailMeNot and 4,545,454 shares are being offered by selling stockholders.

Seoul, South Korea – South Korean home shopping retailer NS Shopping is deploying mobile and analytics solutions from IBM to improve its omni-channel customer experience and relationship management.

NS Shopping currently sells its merchandise via television, catalogues and online, and will use IBM Smarter Commerce technology to integrate mobile and social channels into its retail environment.

J.C. Penney is counting on a familiar blend of promotional tactics for the 2013 back-to-school season after a slate of merchandising initiatives and a free haircut offer ended horribly last year.

The department store retailer is touting the availability of some familiar brands and promotional pricing along with a new Joe Fresh Kids brand, expanded Levi’s assortments, free customization kits with the purchase of backpacks and shoes during August and dedicated landing pages at Jcp.com for key brands such as Arizona, Levi’s and Total Girl.

Irvine, Calif. – Showrooming is not just something afflicting large retail chains. Eighty percent of small retailers also report being affected by showrooming, with 47% indicating a moderate impact, according to new data from small business software provider Sage North America.

In addition, Sage data finds that $68 of every $100 spent at a local retailer stays in the community where it is spent, compared to only $32 out of every $100 spent at a non-local retailer.

San Francisco – On July 19, online transportation service provider Uber is offering a one-day promotion where mobile customers could use the Uber app to order on-demand ice cream from an ice cream truck.

App users in 33 global cities, including 22 in the U.S. and Canada, have a one-day “order ice cream” option on their app. If one of several ice cream trucks deployed in each city is available, customers can order a bundle of five to six ice cream treats with payment directly charged to their Uber account.

Walmart.com is the only conventional retailer to rank in the monthly Top 50 Web Properties report from comScore Media Metrix, but June traffic to the retailer’s site was below year-ago levels even as e-commerce is hailed as the next growth engine.