Data & Analytics

The famous poetic line “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” may hold more truth than most retailers realize.

“Less than 1% of water is drinkable and readily available, and less than 1% of that is surface water,” Jerry Yudelson, president, Green Building Initiative, told SPECS attendees.

Every business magazine sports an “X Under 40” list celebrating precocious professionals. But, really, isn’t it almost always youthful drive and optimism that feeds the engine of progress?

The stories of Chain Store Age’s 2017 list of over-achievers under 40 abound with examples of young people from different disciplines who all discovered retail real estate as the perfect channel for their passions.

Austin, Texas - Whole Foods Market and Instacart are partnering to make it more convenient to show Mom how much you love her this Mother’s Day. Using the Instacart service, Whole Foods will deliver flowers in as little as one hour across 15 major U.S. metros, along with a selection of other gifts.

Quincy, Mass. -- Stop & Shop has broken ground on the company’s first anaerobic digester at its distribution center in Freetown, Massachusetts. The state-of-the-art digester will turn food scraps into clean energy.

As part of its sustainability efforts, Stop & Shop plans to donate and divert as much food waste and unsold food as possible to regional food banks and farms. But food that cannot be donated will be sent to the digester. The supermarket retailer has set a long-term goal to divert 90% of waste going to landfills.

Jacksonville, Fla. - Bi-Lo Holdings, parent company of Bi-Lo, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, is launching a new smartphone app and improved website for each banner that now delivers personalized digital coupons based on each customer’s shopping habits. Bi-Lo is partnering with digital coupon provider Coupons.com to deliver the personalized coupons.

Additional features of the new mobile app and enhanced website include:

The upcoming Oct. 1, 2015, mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt POS systems that can securely accept and process transactions using EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa)-compliant, chip-based payment cards is fast approaching. Retailers that are not in compliance with the mandate after that date will be held liable for any fraudulent transaction committed with a chip-based card.

The participating companies provide industry-leading solutions and services that aid retailers with the challenging task of navigating real estate. Specific areas where and these providers offer help include lease management, store growth and consolidation, portfolio management, strategic analytics.

A&G Realty Partners LLC    

Melville, N.Y.    

David’s Bridal gets personal with advanced digital analytics

There are few events more personal in a woman’s life than her wedding.