Supply Chain & Merchandising

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. has gone live with several new in-store navigation features. The features include new interactive maps along with enhanced shopping lists and search capabilities.   Leveraging Point Inside technology, Target customers can use the app to more easily build shopping lists, find product locations and determine item availability at local stores. New features include:  

Luxury goods retailers face a new competitive challenge from a consignment Web site called Couture Within Reach that has the potential to siphon off traffic and sales.

Weston, Fla. –- Logistics and transportation provide DHL is changing the brand name of DHL Global Mail to DHL eCommerce as the company focuses to provide customers with new e-commerce solutions.  

Just in time for the peak holiday shopping season, Sears is introducing "Reserve It" – a free service that lets Shop Your Way members pick out apparel and footwear in stock at their local Sears, put the items on hold, and then try them on once they arrive at the store.

Philadelphia –- Urban Outfitters missed Wall Street expectations for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 with a larger-than-predicted 33% decline in net income to $47.14 million from $70.26 million in the same period a year earlier. In addition, same-store sales fell 1% compared to expectations of flat results.  

New functionality such as interactive maps, enhanced list-making and search capabilities are designed to make it easier than ever to shop Target.

Working with shopper engagement solutions provider Point Inside, Target has upgraded its mobile capabilities ahead of a holiday season in which shoppers will be more digitally engaged than ever.

Mississauga, Canada -- Canadian shoppers are off to an earlier start with holiday shopping. UPS Canada's annual Black Friday survey conducted by Leger shows that one-third of Canadians plan to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.    The findings forecast that 20% of Canadian consumers will travel to the U.S. to shop for Black Friday deals and 32% of Canadian consumers will make online Cyber Monday purchases from U.S. retailers.   

Toronto, Canada –- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will reportedly end its agreement to issue credit cards for Sears Canada when the term expires Nov. 15, 2015. According to the Wall Street Journal, in the meantime the two companies will explore opportunities to sell the credit card program to a third party, with Sears Canada receiving as much as $154 million if a sale goes through.