Loyalty Marketing

New York -- Duane Reade, a division of Walgreens, has released the first update to its app for iPhone including the integration of iBeacon for 10-select Duane Reade locations active as of May 1.

Harrisburg, Pa. -- Arooga’s Grille House & Sports Bar announced it is making tabletop tablets from Buzztime the brand standard for all current and future corporate & franchise locations.

Nordstrom has launched nordstromrack.com, a new e-commerce site and mobile app, built on a shared platform with HauteLook, Nordstrom's flash sale business. The new site gives customers access to shop Nordstrom Rack merchandise alongside HauteLook flash sale events.

San Diego - Shari's Berries, a national gifting brand that delivers strawberries and sweets, is launching Shari's Berries App for iPhone and iPod touch. The Shari's Berries App allows smartphone-based orders for delivery as early as the next day.

Designed by its subsidiary Sincerely, the Shari's Berries App features a simplified shopping experience and quick checkouts. It also reminds users of birthdays and holidays based on an algorithm that incorporates data from their Facebook network and device contacts.

When it comes to success in retail, the old mantra of “location, location, location” has been largely replaced by “customer, customer, customer.” That was one of the themes of the SPECS workshop session, “It’s All in the Demographics.”

“Yes, it’s about demographics, but it’s more than demographics. It’s about the lifestyle embedded in the demographics,” explained Bill Stinneford, executive VP retail, Buxton, Fort Worth, Texas, which provides customer analytics for site selection, marketing and e-commerce.

Despite severe weather-related issues during the first quarter, CVS reported “solid results” across the enterprise and executives expressed optimism in achieving 2014 goals.

New York -- The Duane Reade drugstore chain has launched an iBeacon pilot in several stores in the New York area. The test was announced by Tim McCauley, senior director of mobile commerce at Walgreens, parent company of Duane Reade, during a presentation at the Mcommerce Summit in New York City.

“In Duane Reade, we now have iBeacon in our Duane Reade app, and we have a ten-store pilot in this market going on right now,” said McCauley

Nearly two months after Sears set it free, Lands' End has named Steven Rado as SVP, chief marketing officer.

Rado will guide a team of 50 professionals across marketing operations including consumer insights, forecasting and analytics, catalog, digital marketing, customer acquisition, e-commerce, public relations and advertising.