Mass Merchant

The EMV liability shift occurs Oct 2015 and the United States expects six million to eight million EMV cards to be deployed by the end of the year. Payment solutions giant Ingenico Group believes many merchants will not be ready. (Ingenico Group is an active member of both the Smart Card Alliance and the EMV Migration Forum, which are cross industry organizations focused on easing the U.S. EMV implementation.)

Based on his expertise in EMV transitions, Ingenico Group North America president Thierry Denis offers the following observations and advice:

Mississauga, Ontario - Walmart Canada has reached agreements to acquire one distribution center, 12 store leases and one owned property formerly held by Target Canada, for an aggregate of approximately $165 million Canadian ($136.3 million).
 

Shedding light on how Walmart plans to achieve digital and physical balance in its supply chain this week was Tracy Rosser, the retailer’s senior vice president of transportation and supply chain.

Speaking at an Institute for Supply Management conference in Phoenix, Rosser elaborate on Walmart’s plans to blend its traditional pallet drive supply chain focused on serving large format stores with new distribution challenges driven by shoppers evolving fulfillment expectations. T

H&M is making a big statement in Manhattan.

The Swedish fast fashion retailer will open its largest store in the world, in Manhattan’s Herald Center, on May 20.

San Francisco -- Americans modestly increased their spending in April, with growth across most major purchase categories, according to Visa’s Retail Spending Monitor (RSM), a quarterly report that tracks retail spending patterns based on real-time purchase data.  Retail spending in April was up 4.5% from the prior year, excluding automobile and gasoline purchases.

Phoenix -- Big Shopping Centers USA and Red Development have announced a joint venture partnership to maximize market presence and performance of select U.S. retail properties in the Midwest and West. The alliance seeks to acquire established, first-tier community, lifestyle and power centers with strong tenant line-ups and sales figures that are well positioned in markets throughout the United States.

Kohl's shoppers have responded so well to store pickup for online orders that the retailer is rolling out the service to all 1,164 of its stores in the United States.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market on Wednesday announced plans to debut a new store format targeted at millenials. The company said the stores are expected to begin opening next year, and the expansion will be “fairly rapid.” It did not reveal the name of the new banner.