Retail

San Francisco — Mobile shopping platform ShopSavvy, has enhanced its AdOns advertising network to support iBeacon integration. The upgrade allows ShopSavvy AdOns partners to run more targeted in-store contextual ads.  

Corpus Christi, Texas -- Susser Holdings opened two new Stripes convenience stores during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 and acquired 47 convenience stores at the end of January 2014 that are currently operating under the Sac-N-Pac brand. The company has acquired one additional convenience store to date in the second quarter, and currently has 17 under construction.

New York – PriceGrabber and StellaService are launching a partnership where PriceGrabber will display StellaService's online retailer ratings and customer service performance data on PriceGrabber.com. In addition, PriceGrabber will act as a distribution partner for StellaService to its network of digital publishers.

Cheshunt, U.K. – Philip Clarke, CEO of leading U.K. grocery and general merchandise retailer Tesco plc is publicly resisting calls for his resignation following a 6% decline in annual profits and 3% quarterly drop in U.K. same-store sales. Tesco has reported falling profits for two consecutive years following 20 years of continual profit growth.

By Rodney Mason, CMO, parago

Today, consumers have more information sources to help them make purchasing decisions. Smartphones, tablets, social media and the Internet — combined with traditional shopping channels like magazines and direct mail — means that deal-finding and comparison-shopping methods are almost always at consumers’ fingertips. As a result, shoppers are making their purchases faster.

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Company announced that Lee Downing has been promoted to executive VP store operations, effective April 14. In conjunction with his promotion, he will assume added leadership responsibilities for the company's real estate team.

In addition to leading the store operations and store support administration teams, Downing will be responsible for the strategic new store site selection, facilitation of store openings and ongoing maintenance, in addition to other real estate functions.

San Francisco - Banana Republic has named fashion designer Marissa Webb as creative director and executive VP of design, effective April 28. She will be responsible for guiding the brand’s overall creative direction, as well as leading global product design for Banana Republic women’s, men’s, and accessories.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. highlighted its use of technology and innovation to bridge the growing digital world with its physical stores at the company’s annual meeting with investors. In new initiatives, the retailer is expanding its reserve in-store service to all U.S. Gap stores by the end of the second quarter, enabling online and mobile shoppers to now reserve items at more than 1,000 Gap and Banana Republic store locations.