Sales & Marketing

CSA’s annual award program honors five growing brands

Innovation in retail means breaking down barriers, navigating a fiercely competitive marketplace and making connections with increasingly demanding customers. In this section, Chain Store Age profiles five retailers that are succeeding in both. They are the winners of CSA’s Breakout Retailers Awards.

J.C. Penney is extending its appliance showroom footprint and also delving deeper into the category.        The retailer will expand its in-store appliance showroom concept from its current 500 stores to an additional 100 locations in early 2017, and also add new appliance brands to the merchandise mix, company chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said on Penney’s quarterly earnings call.    

A 33-year-old make-up brand is looking to make inroads in the U.S. market with a jazzy-looking that is big on interactivity.   

Women’s apparel retailer J.Jill is returning to the public arena after more than a decade of private ownership.   The retailer on Monday said it has launched an initial public offering of 11.67 million shares. The IPO is expected to have a price range of between $14.00 and $16.00 per share.   J.Jill has been approved to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “JILL.”  

A new digital payment process promises to improve in-store experiences, deliver operational efficiencies and create more consistency cross-channel.   Mastercard and Oracle are joining forces to expand the card issuer’s QKR! with Masterpass mobile app, a platform that enables consumers to seamlessly order and pay for goods and services via their smartphone. Targeting retail stores, restaurants and hotels, the platform reduces friction and drives more security for the consumer.  

The world’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, Walmart, has eliminated the membership fee on its two-day shipping program ShippingPass – its strongest response yet to the growing dominance of Amazon Prime (which is not estimated to 65 million members worldwide).    

JackThreads is the latest company seeking help to stay afloat.   The online men’s retailer has cut its staff down to a skeleton crew with mass layoffs over the past two weeks, and is on the hunt for a buyer, according to Fortune.   

Food Lion continues to roll out its updated store design to new markets.    The chain announced a $178 million investment in its stores in the greater Greensboro, N.C., market, which includes remodeling 93 stores. The remodels,  part of Food Lion’s "Easy, Fresh and Affordable...You Can Count on Food Lion Every Day!" initiative, include a new design that is easier to navigate and shop so customers can get in and out of the store quickly, new registers and enhanced service.