Social Media

The commercial real estate community is somewhat of a paradox. For an industry that is literally built on the premise of creating new and exciting destinations, there is a tendency to do things the way they have always been done.

The list of social media networks offering or planning to offer retail functionality reportedly just got longer. According to Re/Code, Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and a board member of the Snapchat social network, publicly stated that Snapchat intends to offer e-commerce. The announcement came during a presentation Coles made at the Re/Code Code/Media conference in Dana Point, California, on Feb. 17. [Re/Code]

There are a lot of options in decorating a home, and Los Angeles-based specialty home furnishings retailer Z Gallerie wants to match its offerings to customer tastes.

“We’ve been known for one particular style which our customers love and that we’ve done quite well with,” said Chris Nicklo, VP of customer and chief marketing officer of Z Gallerie, during an interview with Chain Store Age. “But to grow, we knew we would need to appeal to a broader spectrum of customers.”

Retailers looking for evidence that technology has become a pre-eminent influencer on their industry need look no further.

A market brief from consumer financial services company Synchrony Financial, “10 Things to Know – the Top 10 Retail Trends for 2016,” identifies eight technology-driven developments on its list. In addition to the emergence of new retail holidays and increased spending on pets, the eight IT-focused trends are:

A cloud computing/e-commerce giant heads up Fast Company’s annual ranking of the 10 most innovative companies in retail.   Amazon not only topped the retail sector category, it also came in number one in the overall World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies listing. (Rounding out the top five: Google, Uber, Apple and Snap.)      

E-commerce platform Shopify wants to help social media content creators expand into the world of online sales.

Shopify is partnering with FameBit, a Santa Monica, California-based platform that allows social media influencers and brands to collaborate for product and service endorsements. The new partnership will allow more than 31,000 of FameBit’s influencers to leverage Shopify’s VIP program and technology to expand into e-commerce.

Just in time for Coachella, H&M is teaming up once again with the world-famous California festival by creating a co-branded coed collection.

The H&M Loves Coachella collection will launch in the U.S. in stores on March 24 with a sneak peek online on March 23. The Coachella festival is held yearly in Southern California in April.

For the fourth consecutive year, a department store has nabbed the top spot in a survey of the nation’s favorite fashion retailers.

Nordstrom took the top spot in the study, by Market Force Information.  Interestingly, severak discount retailers moved up the list this year, with Marshalls landing in the No. 2 spot. H&M and Ross Dress for Less tied for third, Kohl’s was fourth and Macy’s was fifth.