Supply Chain & Merchandising

Omnichannel success depends on the ability to scale operations to keep up with consumer demand.  

While much emphasis is placed on optimizing the front-of-the-house retail experience, improving back-of-the-house operations can also help retailers better meet customers’ evolving expectations – and intelligent lighting systems may be a key to improving those operations.    

Francesca's Holdings Corp. has found a chief executive.   The retailer appointed Steven P. Lawrence, who currently serves as chief merchandising officer for Stage Stores, as president and CEO. Lawrence, who was also appointed to the company’s board, will officially join Francesca’s in October 2016.   Lawrence replaces Richard Kunes, who has been serving as Francesca’s interim chairman, president and CEO since May 2016. Kunes will become the company’s chairman of the board.

Forget apparel, electronics and gift cards. Free shipping is expected to be the most-coveted wish among many shoppers this holiday season.   That’s according to the “The September 2016 Holiday Retail Report” from Radial and CFI Group, in which 91% of respondents said they would be willing to increase the size of their online order to qualify for free shipping.  

This year, Hanukkah and Christmas Eve both fall on the last Saturday before Christmas, dubbed Super Saturday, which is likely to have a dramatic impact on traffic on that day.   

Consumers have made it clear: they want to shop across a brand holistically, not a company’s individual channels.   Yet, a lack of unified customer experiences continues to haunt customer service, and fails to drive customer loyalty. These details were revealed in “In-Store Meets Online: Unifying the Retail Customer Experience,” a report from Kibo, a cloud-based unified omnichannel commerce platform provider.   

While most of the industry is focused on the upcoming holiday season, Party City has bigger fish to fry — hiring for Halloween.   To prepare for the retailer’s make-or-break season, the chain will hire an additional 35,000 employees nationwide over the next four weeks.  

Eleven retail tech startups took the stage at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall on Tuesday in front of nearly 1,000 people. The goal? Deliver the pitch of a lifetime.