Retail

More than half of all shoppers are planning to make holiday purchases over the Thanksgiving holiday period, according to a new report.

The 2015 International Council of Shopping Centers Black Friday Shopping Study shows that 59% of shoppers plan to make a purchase at a physical store over the weekend (Thursday-Sunday).

Surprisingly, Cyber Monday is shaping up to be the second-most popular day for in-store shopping – even though it’s a day normally associated with online activity. Overall, Americans plan to shop in-store on:

Retail cloud technology deployments have been getting a lot of attention lately. However, the most publicized retail uses of cloud technology tend to be flashy, front-end implementations.

But the cloud is not just suited to running customer-facing systems. Cloud technology can also serve as an ideal platform for back-end systems and functions, such as workforce management, according to Liz Moughan, director, retail and hospitality practice group of workforce management software and services provider Kronos Inc.

Tanger Outlets announced it has acquired land in Daytona Beach, Florida and plans in to immediately commence construction of its new outlet center development. When complete, the new center will beapproximately350,000 sq. ft. of retail space and feature over 80 upscale brand name and designer outlet retailers.

In a new expansion of food and retail, Urban Outfitters Inc. is acquiring a Philadelphia-based restaurant chain. The move comes as many retailers are working to make their stores more experiential by adding various services, including food and beverages, to the mix.

CBL & Associates Properties and Fisher-Price along with special guest, Santa Claus, delivered an early Christmas gift to families at West Towne Mall in Madison, Wisconsin.

The brand new soft play area attraction is now open and is the first of its kind in the country, resembling a larger-than-life Toy Box featuring iconic children’s brands like Thomas & Friends, Little People, and more.

Cabela’s is looking to increase sales this holiday by opening seasonal stores in some military installations.

Their merger isn’t expect to close until-mid 2016, but Ahold and Delhaize Group have named more senior executives to interesting new roles to lead the combined company.

Ahold and Delhaize Group announced more members of the proposed executive committee of the combined company to be known as Ahold Delhaize. As previously announced in June, the proposed Ahold Delhaize management board consists of CEO Dick Boer, Deputy CEO and Chief Integration Officer Frans Muller, CFO Jeff Carr, COO Europe Pierre Bouchut, COO USA Kevin Holt, and COO USA James McCann.

Popularity and resale value do not always correlate when it comes to gift cards.

Visa is tops in a ranking of the gift cards expected to be most popular this holiday season.

Rounding out the top 10: American Express; iTunes; Wal-Mart; Target; Starbucks; Netflix; eBay and Google Play. The ranking is from CardHub, a credit card comparison Web site owned by Evolution Finance.