Sales & Marketing

Boston -- Retailers identified mobile POS technologies as a quickly emerging trend, with more than half planning to launch mobile solutions within the next two years, according to Boston Retail Partner’s 12th Annual POS Survey.

Jackson-Hewitt tax preparation kiosks are now open in more than 2,000 Walmart stores in anticipation of an onslaught of consumers eager for their refund to arrive as soon as possible. Nearly half of those who receive a refund get it in February, according to IRS data cited by Walmart, so the retailer is touting the presence of Jackson-Hewitt kiosks in its stores and a preparation fee of $38 for the most basic of returns, the 1040EZ, with only two W2s.

New York City -- Starbucks Coffee Co. said Thursday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Coffee Ltd., an Indian coffee bean provider, which will allow Starbucks to source and roast coffee beans at Tata's Coorg, India facility.

In addition, the deal will allow the companies to "explore the development of Starbucks retail stores in associated retail outlets and hotels," Starbucks said in a statement.

Lenexa, Kan. -- Seattle-based Nordstrom announced plans to open its first Nordstrom Rack in Kansas. The 34,925-sq.-ft. store will be located in Lenexa at the Orchard Corners shopping center and is expected to open in fall 2011.

Ontario, Calif. -- Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group announced that Masa Liles has joined The Mills, a Simon Co., as area director of marketing for Ontario Mills, California’s largest outlet and value retail shopping destination, and The Block at Orange, an open-air shopping, dining and entertainment destination in southern California.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Safeway announced that it has formed a fund to aid the victims of the recent shooting that occurred in one of its Tucson stores.

The company launched the fund with an initial contribution of $100,000 from the Safeway Foundation, and encourages in-store contributions from Safeway customers and community members in the company’s Arizona stores.

Armonk, N.Y. -- CSN Stores, the third largest online retailer of home goods in the United States, has selected IBM's Netezza TwinFin appliance to quickly mine and analyze terabytes of business data flowing through the company every day.

The new tool will power CSN's business analytics platform to monitor trends related to profitability, customer satisfaction, customer retention, order fulfillment and supply chain. The company will use the data to drive organic growth initiatives and discover new ways to better serve their customers.

Dow Jones this morning reported that South African retailer and Walmart takeover target Massmart Holdings has given assurances it will continue to honor all agreements with labor unions and local labor laws if the buyout goes through. That’s what Walmart and Massmart have been saying since the deal was announced last year but they have to keep saying it because union activists are everywhere in the world.