Sales & Marketing

Blue Apron. Dollar Shave Club. The RealReal. The Honest Company.

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, the nation’s leading fabric and craft specialty retailer, has announced two significant organizational changes in the merchandising and marketing areas.

Megan Featherston, formerly senior vice president, merchandising, at Jo-Ann, has been promoted to executive vice president, merchandising & marketing. In her new role, Megan will oversee the retailer’s merchandising, marketing, Joann.com and business intelligence and analytics teams.

Retailers deliver personalized, seamless mobile experience

In his classic posthumous memoir “A Moveable Feat,” Ernest Hemingway describes 1920s Paris as an interconnected place where you could obtain any food, drink or entertainment you wanted at any time. While the days of glamorous expatriate writers tramping across Europe are long gone, retailers are increasingly trying to recreate the atmosphere of seamless access to whatever your heart desires, via mobile devices and apps.

In the midst of its strongest growth in year, Meijer and its produce partners are touting the company’s $100 million locally grown commitment.

It’s no secret that the rise of mobile devices is empowering consumers and altering the way they shop. But mobile isn’t just changing the game for consumers. It’s also empowering chain stores to take advantage of those behavior changes to strengthen customer relationships and distinguish the in-store experience.  

Here are five simple ways that chain stores can take advantage of mobile devices like tablets to enhance and differentiate the in-store experience and drive sales:

Michaels is giving children a Passport to Imagination this summer with a new free program.

This year, the low-cost, in-store sessions will focus on summer vacation fun, including lake picnics, afternoons at the beach, county fairs, music festivals and more. Passport to Imagination begins July 6 and will run through Aug. 21 in all Canadian stores, with three classes per week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Irvine, Calif. – Boot Barn Holdings Inc. is looking to expand its ability to serve the needs of omnichannel customers with a new acquisition.

The retailer has completed its previously announced purchase of Sheplers Inc. a western lifestyle company with 25 retail locations across the U.S. and a catalog and e-commerce business.

Rite Aid will be teaming with the Skin Cancer Foundation for the eighth consecutive year to provide Rite Aid customers free private screenings with a local dermatologist volunteer.