Supply Chain & Merchandising

CBL announced that it has a replacement anchor lined up for the Macy’s store closing at its Layton Hills Mall in Utah, one of 63 Macy’s locations slated to be shuttered this spring. One other Utah Macy’s is scheduled to close at Cottonwood Mall in Salt Lake City.   

The partnership between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples has come to an end.   The program started as a pilot in late 2013 and was eventually expanded to about 500 Staples locations. It effectively placed mini post-offices in the chain’s stores, with Staples’s non-union employees providing some of the same services that the Postal Service’s union employees performed.      

A new acquisition gives Walmart an even stronger foothold in the world of e-commerce.   Jet.com, which was purchased by Walmart in September for approximately $3 billion, has acquired online footwear retailer ShoeBuy for approximately $70 million. The purchase expands Jet.com’s footwear offerings, and gives Walmart more firepower in its battle against Amazon, which owns ShoeBuy’s main competitor, Zappos.   The deal closed on Dec. 30.  

Turning big data, social media challenges into growth opportunities

As 2017 gets underway, digital disruption continues to drive — and transform — the industry.

Besides creating a more consumer-centric, web-enabled shopping experience, digital innovations — from the Internet of Things to mobility to social media — are altering retail operations. They are also generating new challenges that retailers are unaccustomed to, or worse, still unprepared for.

Retailers navigate shifting regulatory landscape amid a flurry of EPA involvement

The past decade has seen a monumental shift in regulatory oversight of retailers’ environmental compliance programs, forcing companies to adapt compliance solutions to the myriad of hazardous waste control laws impacting the retail sector.

Historically, most enforcement has been at the state and local level. But in late 2016, the industry witnessed a flurry of retail-related activity from the Environmental Protection Agency, including:

Sears Holdings Corp. is seeking to stop its bleeding and raise more cash by closing another 104 stores and selling its iconic Craftsman tools brand.   The struggling retailer said it has reached an agreement to sell Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker for a net present value of about $900 million, including future royalty payments. Sears, which will continue to sell Craftsman products, had put the brand, along with its Kenmore and DieHard brands, up for sale several months ago.   

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday reported a better-than-expected profit for its first quarter and also said an announcement that it has closed the deal on its proposed acquisition of Rite Aid would come soon.   Walgreens confirmed it is actively engaged in discussions with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its pending Rite Aid acquisition, which was announced more than 14 months ago. Also subject to FTC approval is the sale of 865 Rite Aid locations to Fred's for almost $1 billion.    

Amazon’s new service is helping Prime members to get dinner on the table faster.   By integrating Alexa into Amazon Restaurants, the retail giant now enables Prime members to voice-order their next meal through their Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Customers can place orders from any restaurant available on the service in more than 20 cities by saying, “Alexa, order from Amazon Restaurants.” Any meal they’ve ordered before will delivered to their door for free in an hour or less.