Supply Chain & Merchandising

By Kris Bjorson, JLL

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has appointed George Fairweather, formerly group finance director of Alliance Boots, as executive vice president and global chief financial officer, effective Feb. 20.

Fairweather will succeed Timothy McLevish, who served as Walgreens CFO since August 2014, where he advanced the company’s completion of its merger with Alliance Boots to form Walgreens Boots Alliance and served as the initial global chief financial officer of the combined companies.

New York -- Uniqlo will enter Canada in the fall of 2016, opening a store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, and one at the Toronto Eaton Centre.

Uniqlo currently operates some 1,500 stores, with locations in Japan, Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and the United States.

To succeed in today's dynamic industry, retailers need to offer a seamless shopping experience that never loses sight of customer needs, both in-store and online. In fact, retail is in the midst of a revolution in which customers are more fragmented and have more power than ever before. Here's what we at Batteries Plus Blubs are doing to prepare for these challenges.

As recently as a year or two ago, “mobile retailing” was a major industry buzzword. Everyone was busy trying to figure out how to best “mobile-enable” their enterprise.

Alexandria, Va. - The U.S. convenience store count increased to 152,794 stores as of Dec. 31, 2014. That marks a nearly 1% increase from the prior year, according to the 2015 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count.

Buy online, pick up in store capabilities are being rolled out to all of Kohl’s nearly 1,200 stores this spring after a successful 100 store pilot program during the holidays.

And that just the beginning of the digital initiative the company has planned.

The addition of pick up in store to Kohl’s omnichannel offering puts the retailer on equal footing with others in the industry who have recognized in store pick up has quickly become a basic expectation shoppers have of retailers who operate physical stores.

Things didn’t work for Target in Canada, but that hasn’t deterred Japan’s Fast Retailing Co., from announcing plans to enter the market with its UNIQLO format.

The company’s first stores aren’t expected to open until the fall of 2016 when two flagship locations offering budget priced apparel measuring 24,000 and 28,000 square feet are introduced in Toronto.