Sales & Marketing

Owasso, Okla. -- GBT Realty Corporation announced that it has locked in a third Academy Sports & Outdoor location for the Tulsa area, in the suburb of Owasso, Oklahoma. GBT acquired the 5.8-acre site on Dec. 30 for $2 million. Construction is underway on the $10-million development.   

For many supermarkets, having an effective grocery shopping app is a key component of their omnichannel toolkit. But how to design it?

Retailers could learn from Favado 2.0, a redesigned version of the grocery community savings app by savings.com. The sale and coupon data in Favado 2.0 is aggregated by grocery savings experts throughout the country and presented in a new visual format.

Minneapolis -- Shorenstein Properties LLC and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th announced that Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th has signed a lease for 40,321 sq. ft. in the retail portion of Minneapolis City Center, continuing the fashion retailer’s 25-year presence in downtown Minneapolis. The new store is slated to open April 2016.

“This city has been a strong market for us, and Minneapolis City Center provides us with a vibrant location in which to serve our exceedingly loyal customers,” said Jonathan Greller, president of Outlets, HBC.

Less than a week after getting shareholder approval to sell itself to Dollar Tree Inc., Family Dollar said fewer discounts led to increased December sales.

For the month ended Jan. 3, Family Dollar said its sales increased 3.6% to $1.21 billion from a year earlier. Same-store sales increased 1.2%, compared with a 3% decline last December.

Washington, D.C. – Valentine’s Day should be especially sweet for retailers this year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, the average person celebrating Valentine’s Day will spend $142.31 on candy, flowers, apparel and more.

That figure is up 6% from $133.91 in 2013. Total spending is expected to reach $18.9 billion, a survey high.

By Marcel Munoz, CTO, Thanx Media

2014 was an interesting year in e-commerce. Who would have predicted that mobile commerce would explode the way it did? Advances in technology continue to influence consumer behavior and in turn their preferences are driving innovation in software and hardware.

Prepaid payment provider Blackhawk Network has created a new division dedicated to providing customized engagement, incentive and rebate programs for consumers, employees and sales channels.

Houston -- Pizza ordering continues to get easier and easier. Hungry Howie's Pizza has partnered with Revention to create a custom digital online ordering platform, a simple-to-use solution that allows customers to order from any internet capable device, whether desktop, tablet or mobile phone.