Sales & Marketing

Synchrony Financial will continue to offer consumer financing to Pandora Jewelry customers.

The two companies have announced a multi-year extension of their consumer financing program agreement. The program, which began in 2011, will continue to provide Pandora shoppers with access to a range of payment options through the Pandora Preferred card program. Special financing will be available at select concept stores nationwide.

By removing manual effort from the checkout and cash management processes in stores, Sunbury, Pennsylvania-based supermarket chain Weis Markets Inc. is making shopping easier.

Weis Markets has signed an agreement with Balance Innovations to provide its vbScout self-checkout management solution in all stores offering self-checkout, as well as VeriBalance currency management software and vbInSight corporate reporting software in all 162 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia.

For Pet Supplies Plus, it’s all about convenience and service. The third-largest specialty player in a fast-growing business that has proven resilient even in hard times, the privately held retailer has found a sweet spot amid bigger box competitors with its friendly neighborhood-store positioning.

Staples is bringing the mobile and in-store shopping experiences a little closer together.

The office products giant is releasing a new interactive store map feature on its iPhone app. Currently, the offering is being piloted at 83 select stores across New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and the Seattle area.

Increasingly, retailers are recognizing the need to remove boundaries between channels to maximize customer satisfaction.
 
According to the 2016 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Survey from Boston Retail Partners, 51% of retailers indicate that creating a seamless experience across channels is their top priority. To support a seamless customer experience, 23% of the retailers surveyed have already implemented a single, unified commerce platform and another 52% plan to implement one within the next three years.
 

Image Courtesy: Christopher Michel, CC by 2.0

Ahold USA first quarter sales were up 4% to $8.2 billion. Excluding gas, sales increased 4.1% at constant exchange rates. The addition of 25 A&P stores in the New York Metro market in fourth quarter 2015 was the main contributor to the overall sales growth and resulted in an overall market share improvement in both dollars and volume, Ahold reported.

Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon Athletica Inc., is not one to mince words.

Wilson, the company’s largest shareholder with a 14.2% stake, on Wednesday issued an open letter to investors in which he sharply criticized the apparel retailer’s management, calling its competence “uninspiring at best.” He called for annual election of the board to hold members accountable for Lululemon’s performance.