Supply Chain & Merchandising

By Leela Rao-Kataria, GT Nexus    When most people are asked what the busiest holiday for retailers’ is they immediately cite the traditional holiday season. But most consumers don’t realize back-to-school shopping is the second biggest shopping season in the United States. And unlike the winter holidays, back-to-school has an additional challenge for retailers: it’s the longest running holiday season, extending over three months.    

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to sharply cut back the growth of its U.S. supercenters in favor of smaller-format stores and acccelerated e-commerce and digital investments.    

A delayed start to the shopping season is causing consumers to postpone their holiday purchases until Thanksgiving weekend, according to the 2014 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey from global information company The NPD Group.

New York -- Calvin Klein has deployed an interactive shopping experience at Macy's Herald Square store in New York City, soon to be rolling out at 18 other Macy's locations nationwide this year. Using dynamic marketing technologies from Creative Realities, Calvin Klein is employing interactive touch display and sales assistance applications developed by Creative Realities to support shoppers as they navigate the denim category.   

Price and promotion tracker Brand View has joined the Revionics’ Competitive Data Partner program to enhance the competitive intelligence available to retail clients.

Delhaize America’s new CIO is confident the company will be able to drive sales growth by leveraging technology.

Retail technology veteran Michael Laurenti was named chief information officer at Delhaize America and will assume his new responsibilities on November 17. He most recently served as CIO at the privately held 300 unit Belk Department Stores chain. Prior to Belk, he worked at Family Dollar, Linens 'N Things and Toys "R" Us. Laurenti succeeds Deb Dixson who spent four years at Delhaize America and announced her departure earlier this year.

New York –- Brooks Brothers is currently one-third of the way through an IT transformation based on SAP technology. In a presentation and also in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Chain Store Age at the recent SAP Retail Forum in New York, Sahal S. Laher, executive VP/global CIO of Brooks Brothers, explained how the retailer is becoming a more customer-focused organization.