Sales & Marketing

The nation’s leading automotive retailer ended its most recent fiscal year the same way it has for the past nine years – with double-digit profit growth and a favorable outlook for the coming year.

The top-ranked home appliance e-commerce website has been identified.

According to the new J.D. Power 2015 Appliance Shopper Website Evaluation Study, Lowe's ranks highest among appliance retailer websites, with a score of 848 out of 1,000, up by nine points from 2014.

Ross Dress for Less is opening new stores under both its namesake and dd’s Discounts banners. The specialty apparel retailer will open a 25,000-sq.-ft. Ross Dress for Less store in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Oct. 10.

This store is the 11th new Ross Dress for Less location in Idaho. The opening is part of the retailer’s 2015 expansion program, totaling approximately 70 new locations during the year.

Adidas is taking its act on the road with a futuristic-looking pop-up that lets shoppers get up close and personal with its high-tech footwear.

The “Boost Experience by Adidas” is an interactive mobile store that is touring the country’s premier running events. It made its debut at the San Francisco Marathon. In all, 14 stops are planned, with a schedule that continues into 2016.

Usually retailers are not pleased when hackers get into their systems, but Walmart Stores Inc. is very happy with three hackers in particular. Walmart will test a new SMS-based customer service tool that won a recent Walmart Labs-sponsored “hackathon.”

The workforce at Macy’s will swell by 50% in the coming month as the department store retailer looks to elevate service levels during the holiday season.

Macy’s said it plans to hire 85,000 workers, versus 86,000 last year, for temporary positions at its Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers. The company had roughly 167,000 employees at the end of its fiscal year on Jan. 31, 2015.

A leading pizza chain is testing beacon technology – in stores in China.

Yum Brands subsidiary Pizza Hut is using devices from global beacon technology provider Sensoro at all 1,471 locations in mainland China through Sept. 23.

Columbia, S.C. -- Industry veterans Terry Brown, Jason Tompkins, and Sam Judd last month launched Asana Partners, a retail real estate investment company headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina.

Drawing from the team's deep operational and investment background in retail real estate, including more than $15 billion in transaction activity over the last 15 years, the company will acquire, own, and operate retail properties in dynamic markets across the United States.