Sales & Marketing

NEW YORK — During the 2011 holiday season, the top retail applications and websites combined — including Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Target and Walmart — reached nearly 60% of smartphone owners, according to Nielsen.

“The majority of smartphone owners used their devices for shopping this past holiday season,” said John Burbank, president of strategic initiatives at Nielsen. “Mobile shopping has reached scale and is only going to grow as smartphone penetration continues to rise.”

By Tim Callan, timcallan.blogspot.com

With store closures and falling revenue threatening major retail chains, maximizing store productivity is more important than ever before. While it’s been proven for many years that website analytics can drive dramatic improvement in online retail environments, so far most brick-and-mortar retailers are engaged in only rudimentary measurement.

Columbia, Md. -- Micros Systems, a provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, has partnered with yogurt retailer Pinkberry to implement Google Wallet. The system, which allows Pinkberry customers to tap their device on an NFC (Near Field Communications) reader to quickly make their purchase and simultaneously redeem coupons and receive discounts, is now live in 69 Pinkberry locations in the United States.

Toronto -- Sears Financial has launched an online points redemption system for its five million plus card members, making it one of the first major retail loyalty programs in Canada to do so.

CINCINNATI — Long-time Kroger executive Tim Brown will now be responsible for stores in Western Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri as president of the company's Delta division.

Brown, 52, has been VP operations in the company's division, based in Roanoke, Va., since 2011; before that he served as the Mid-Atlantic division's vice president of merchandising since 2009.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has completed its $10 billion share repurchase program.

The program, which was authorized by the retailer's board of directors in November 2007, represents the repurchase of 193.5 million shares, or nearly 23% of its outstanding shares from that time period, at an average price of $51.68 per share.

Target will continue to repurchase shares under the $5 billion program approved by its board of directors in January, which it expects to complete in the next two to three years.

Dallas -- Alliance Data Systems Corp. announced that its Canadian coalition loyalty business has signed a new multi-year agreement with Toys “R” Us, Canada to issue air miles reward miles in its 73 stores across Canada effective March 23, 2012.

The Air Miles Reward Program is Canada’s premier coalition loyalty program, with approximately two-thirds of Canadian households actively collecting reward miles.

Zara, part of Spain’s Inditex Group, has opened its biggest U.S. location, a 32,000-sq.-ft., three-level flagship on a primo stretch of Manhattan real estate: Fifth Avenue at 52nd Street. The store is part of a 90,000-sq.-ft. retail condominium that also houses Hollister and Uniqlo flagships.