Sales & Marketing

Redwood Shores, Calif. – Toms — the company that gives a pair of its shoes or provides eye care to a person in need for every corresponding purchase — has deployed the Oracle Commerce platform to support its rapid business growth and international expansion.

The opening of a new Sears Appliance & Hardware store in Dallas, Texas, marks two milestones for the hardware subsidiary operating under Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores. It is the debut of the smaller, neighborhood model that will become a company standard for all new locations and the first brand new Sears Appliance & Hardware store to open in the past 10 years.

Alameda, Calif. -- MBH Architects appointed team members Eddie Hall and Joanna Wong to associates and has hired Paula DeLiso as its new business development representative.

As an associate, Eddie Hall will be taking on more of a leadership role within the internal operations of the company while maintaining his position in MBH’s retail studio, where he recently worked on Portland CityTarget.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Appliance & Hardware has debuted a smaller, neighborhood model format that will become a company standard for all new locations going forward. The new store, in Dallas, is also the first brand new Sears Appliance & Hardware store to open in the past ten years.

Century 21 has enlisted retail concierge service Hobson to offer same-day delivery to hotels and homes in Manhattan from their downtown flagship location.

For “a small fee,” customers will be able to drop off their purchases at the Century 21 Hobson booth on the ground floor of the newly renovated store for guaranteed same-day delivery.

San Francisco – Almost nine-in-10 (88%) consumers will shop in stores this holiday season, compared to 75% who will shop online and 16% who will shop via mobile device. A new Harris Interactive survey co-sponsored by Aerohive Networks and Euclid also shows that physical retailers still need to address consumer concerns regarding in-store holiday shopping.

Specifically, consumers are most concerned about crowds (42%), lines (29%), and out-of-stock items (15%) affecting their in-store holiday shopping this year.

New York -- Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had resigned from the board of mobile payments company Square Inc., Reuters reported.

Square, founded in 2009 by Twitter Inc co-creator Jack Dorsey, named David Viniar, most recently the CFO of Goldman Sachs Group, as a replacement.

Schultz joined Square's board in August 2012 by investing $25 million in a deal to use its technology to process debit and credit card payments at the coffee chain's stores.

By Craig Johnson, president, Customer Growth Partners