Sales & Marketing

Chicago - Top commercial construction trends for 2015 include an increase in retail and restaurant ground-up construction and a rise in shopping mall renovations, according to national general construction firm Englewood Construction.  

Los Angeles - When it comes to making online selections, Christmas shoppers are better late than never. A survey released by Bizrate Insights, a division of Connexity, found that many shoppers are still making online holiday purchases, even though there are only a few days left before Christmas. In fact, only 17% of shoppers have finished their Christmas shopping.  

Camp Hill, Penn. – Rite Aid Corp. beat Wall Street expectations with net income of $104.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2015, a 46% increase from $71.5 million the same period a year earlier. The improvement in net income resulted primarily from an increase in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and a lower last out, first in (LIFO) charge, partially offset by a higher loss on debt retirement.  

Every retailer wants to acquire new customers, but apparently not every retailer knows how to draw them in. New data from loyalty intelligence provider Colloquy and sponsored by Chase Merchant Services show that a whopping 60% of retailers admitted they don't have a good process in place for effectively targeting new customers.

In addition, 85% of retailers are in search of ways to add value to their retail offering outside of discounts, promotions and /or loyalty programs.

Minneapolis – Some customers are only midway through the race to finish their holiday shopping, some haven’t even left the starting line, but Best Buy is offering help to make sure they reach the finish line by Dec. 24. Best Buy Co Inc. is making thousands of products on BestBuy.com eligible for a free shipping upgrade.  

Janesville, Wisconsin - CBL & Associates Properties announced that DICK'S Sporting Goods and ULTA Beauty are coming to Janesville Mall in Janesville, Wisconsin. The two new stores will be situated in the former JC Penney location. Construction is expected to begin in January with the grand opening for both stores scheduled for fall 2015.  

New York - The Brits are no slouches when it comes to holiday advertisements.

The competition between British retail giants to come up with the most compelling TV ad grows more intense every holiday season.

This year, the biggest initial buzz was created by Sainsbury, with its depiction of the famous Christmas truce on the battlefields of World War I.

BOSTON - Payments made via near field communications (NFC)-enabled mobile handsets will account for $130 billion in worldwide consumer retail spend by 2020, according to a study by Strategy Analytics. This equates to 254 million mobile users making five payments per month at an average of just below $9 per transaction.