Supply Chain & Merchandising

SHANGHAI — Hershey is heading to China to launch a candy brand called Lancaster, marking the first time in its 120-year history that the company has launched a new brand outside of the United States. It’s also the first time in 30 years that Hershey launches a brand that is neither a brand extension nor an acquisition.

The brand will be available in the cities of Wuhan, Hangzhou and Chengdu in June, with wider distribution following next year. 

Columbus, Ohio – Footwear/accessories retailer DSW Inc. opened a new store in Braintree, Mass., on May 18. The new store is located at 250 Granite Street.

DSW currently operates 377 stores in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

NEW YORK — D’Agostino Supermarkets is partnering with online discount provider Aisle50 to offer exclusive deals and discounts on national, local grocery and consumer packaged goods brands.

Franklin, Tenn. -- Almost three in 10 (28%) of North American retailers plan to adopt mobile POS technology by the end of the year, according to a new study from IHL Group.

Results of “Mobile POS: Hype to Reality” also indicate that 45% of all tablet POS shipments go to specialty retailers, mobile POS solutions will cannibalize about 12% of traditional retail POS shipments by 2016 and more than 85% of larger retailers say that in the next three years mobile POS systems will complement, rather than replace, traditional POS systems.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar has named Trade Area Systems, a supplier of enterprise market knowledge systems for retail, its IT Strategic Partner of the Year. The award was presented during the company’s fifth annual IT Strategic Partner Summit.

Family Dollar worked with Trade Area Systems in September 2012 to implement TAS Unity, an editable, data-collection software system that allows real estate managers to input photos and comments about stores, competitors and opportunities directly into the system from their mobile devices.

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Ikea and Walmart are among the retailers heading to Charlotte, N.C., to anchor the Belgate Shopping Center. The new 900,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is DDR Corp.’s first ground-up domestic development in more than four years. 

The center will also include junior anchors Marshalls, Old Navy, Petco, ULTA, Cost Plus World Market, Hobby Lobby and Shoe Carnival.

Atlanta -- American Sportswear, a Panama-based wholesaler and retailer that exclusively distributes the Tommy Hilfiger brand for most of Latin America and the Caribbean, is utilizing the LogFire extended warehouse management solution.

With the cloud-based warehouse and inventory management capabilities of LogFire technology, American Sportswear will manage its multichannel distribution network, retail store replenishments and in-store inventory management.

Cincinnatti -- Macy’s plans to close a store located in downtown St. Louis at the Railway Exchange Building on Olive Street, with a final clearance sale beginning Sunday, June 2 that is expected to last about 10 weeks. Macy’s plans to continue operating its other eight stores in the Greater St. Louis area.