Sales & Marketing

Framingham, Mass. – T.J. Maxx has quietly relaunched its e-commerce site, eight years after initially attempting to sell products online, without any promotion or official announcement. A Boston Globe article indicates the site went live on Sept. 18.

Burlington, Ontario -- Ikea announced the completion of North America's largest Ikea location, in Ville St. Laurent. Growing from 237,473 sq ft to 469,694 sq ft, the state-of-the-art Ikea Montreal will host a warehouse that is twice the size, doubling the amount of products available to take home at any time.

The new store will also offer customers 1407 parking spots, 600 seats in the restaurant, 48 cash lanes, 54 room settings and 2 full home settings.

Egg Harbor Township, N.J. -- Spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in North America, has officially opened the doors of some 1,050 plus locations in the United States and Canada for the 2013 Halloween season. The company this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Spirit stores provide one-stop shopping for everything from top costumes and decor, to accessories and party goods. The stores are feature a variety of interactive displays designed to entertain and — in tune with the season — thrill shoppers.

By Jeff Wakefield, Verifone

Mobility. It is such a broad concept, meaning different things to merchants and consumers. Mobile acceptance, mobile payments, mobile POS, mobile shopping – each plays a distinct part in the overall mobile experience and each has different risks and rewards.

Within this larger mobile arena, the security of the mobile payment device offers the greatest risk for both merchants and consumers alike.

Pittsburgh -- Dick’s Sporting Goods announced that its second freestanding Field & Stream location will open on November 1, in Buttermilk Towne Center, Crescent Springs, Ky.

Atlanta - Shopko has selected Innotrac and Micros as its new e-commerce solution. The Shopko e-commerce site is powered by Micros on the front end with Innotrac's OMS, CRM, fulfillment and business intelligence on the back end.

Flemington, N.J. — HomeGoods has signed a long-term lease with The Shoppes at Flemington in Flemington, N.J., and is open and operating in a 22,000-sq.-ft. building that came as part of the deal.

Levin Management manages and markets the center for the owner, Garrison Investment Group. Welco Realty represented HomeGoods.

Levin also served as the construction manager for the development of the new retail space and managed the land development approvals.

New York – Men are highly engaged shoppers, with 63% of men actively looking for in-store sales and 53% regularly using coupons, according to WSL’s “How America Shops: Men & Shopping Report.” The study also shows that 67% of Millennial men use mobile phones to shop, compared to 52% of Gen X men and 29% of Baby Boomer men.