Data & Analytics

Changes to California’s Title 24 tighten building energy-efficiency standards

California leads the nation in efforts to conserve energy, and it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Changes to the state’s mandatory Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency standards — changes that will make commercial buildings 30% more efficient than the previous 2008 standards — are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2014.

At presstime, construction was wrapping up on Walgreens’ new location in Evanston, Ill. The store is the drug store chain’s — and the nation’s — first net-zero energy retail store. In addition to seeking LEED Platinum certification, Green Chill Platinum certification and Energy Star Certification, it will be the showcase project in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Building Challenge.

Seattle -- Zoomingo, the personalized shopping discovery app that helps shoppers find the best deals in their local stores and malls, announced an agreement with Simon Property Group, the largest mall operator in the U.S., to market the Zoomingo app for the upcoming 2013 holiday shopping season.

New York -- The 87th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will step-off at 77th Street and Central Park West on Thursday, Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. Started in 1924 with only about a dozen elements, the 2013 line-up of wonder features 15 giant character balloons; 37 large scale, novelty/ornament balloons, balloonicles, balloonheads and trycaloons; 30 floats; 1,600 cheerleaders and dancers; 900 clowns; 11 marching bands; and a host of celebrity performers.

By Joseph Bona, [email protected]

In media interviews of late, Beth Newlands Campbell, the new CEO of Food Lion, has been offering reporters a frank assessment of the supermarket chain’s ho-hum, middle-of-the-road situation: “Staying the same,” she explains, “is not an option.”

In August, women’s specialty apparel retailer Coldwater Creek, which operates 402 stores in 47 states, announced it had landed Deborah Cavanagh as its new chief marketing officer. She is charged with leading the multichannel brand’s marketing and creative services. One of Cavanagh’s first orders of business? To re-engage the Coldwater Creek core customer, as well as connect with new ones.

Shoppers continue to integrate digital devices into their lives and crave an equally integrated experience from retailers, but satisfying this heightened set of ominchannel expectation remains a work in progress for most retailers.

Few retailers have a well-defined omnichannel strategy with most professing to be in the development phase, according to a global consulting firm Hay Group. This rather worrisome insight was among the key findings in global consuling firm Hay Group’s 7th annual holiday hiring survey.

Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters optimize endless aisle with caching solution

Providing in-store customers with enhanced online “endless aisle” access to products can boost sales and customer service. But if the wait for endless aisle connectivity takes too long, its effectiveness is impacted.