Mass Merchant

Retailers wondering who among their peers is an omnichannel leader have an answer.

The new Omnichannel Retail Index from the National Retail Federation and e-digital consultancy FitforCommerce identifies the top performers among 120 retailers in several key areas of omnichannel commerce. The areas include showing in-store product availability, multidevice/platform shopping experience, email and loyalty marketing programs, delivery to customer, and customer returns.

Whatever you have planned for Saturday, Oct. 10, specialty apparel retailer Ross Dress for Less will probably be busier.

The Ross Stores Inc. banner is opening six new stores, including three in a new market, as well as relocating a store.

The importance of expense control at Walmart became evident on Friday when the retailer confirmed it planned to eliminate 450 positions as part of a broader restructuring effort.

GameStop has joined a growing list of retailers offering a new incentive for a vast segment of consumers to start thinking about holiday shopping: a comprehensive layaway program.

The company has joined Kmart, Walmart and other retailers in launching an enhanced layaway program in the past few weeks designed to help shoppers access the hottest gifts of the season.

Walmart offered a sneak peek of its new fulfillment center in the Atlanta area on Thursday on the heels of announcing that it would bring grocery pickup to the region this month.

Photos: Dalziel & Pow, London

The highly anticipated EMV deadline of October 1 has come and gone, leaving many retailers and payment solutions providers to ponder what’s next?

As of Oct. 1, 2015, any U.S. retailer that does not have the necessary POS hardware, software, and operational and network protocols in place to process an EMV-compliant chip card transaction faces a shift in fraud liability.

Kohl’s is testing small cafes at two locations in the Milwaukee area, Fortune reported. The pilot is the latest in a series of in-store customer enhancements.