Supply Chain & Merchandising

This year more than ever, holiday shoppers are coming to retailers across a variety of channels and touchpoints. Retailers need to provide a consistent and personalized experience for customers wherever they are.

Boston – Start-up retailer LeanBox is offering a novel, high-tech solution to the problem of office workers who are too busy to go out and purchase healthy food for lunch.

Charlotte, N.C. -- Private equity firm Sycamore Partners is adding a department store to its growing portfolio.

Belk, the nation's largest family owned and operated department store company, on Monday announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be 100% acquired by Sycamore Partners in a transaction with an estimated value of approximately $3 billion.

Store pickup at Target, Best Buy and other major retailers is getting a boost from a whole new innovation from tech startup Curbside.

The company, which has partnered with these retailers to provide a curbside pickup app for its customers, has unveiled its first ever Curbside Pickup Pod at the Glendale Galleria mall in Southern California.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. is doing a little shopping of its own with a new sourcing solution that gives its buyers an online shopping-like experience.

The mass merchandise giant is utilizing RangeMe, a solution that lets suppliers upload their products with supporting information such as a pitch video, pricing and photos.

Common industry wisdom holds that by the time the holidays actually come around, merchandising and marketing plans have been in place for several months or more.

Retailers are certainly attuned to the importance of mobile technology in today’s store environment. Customers who live mobile-enabled, “constantly connected” lifestyles expect the seamless mobile-physical overlap that exists in other parts of their lives to also be readily available when they enter a store.

However, when designing an in-store mobile experience, retailers typically focus their efforts squarely on the software side of the equation.

New York -- It’s almost September, which can only mean one thing: The annual blizzard of holiday sales forecasts is about to begin, and this year eMarketer is one of the first out of the gate.

The firm predicts a shiny and bright holiday season for U.S. retailers, with an assist from falling gas prices and online growth. eMarketer forecasts that U.S. retail sales in the months of November and December 2015 will increase 5.7% year-over-year, reaching $885.7 billion (includes online and physical store sales).