Omnichannel

Chico’s FAS has sold its Boston Proper women’s apparel business to a Los Angeles-based, consumer-focused private equity firm.

Brentwood Associates, whose portfolio includes J. McLaughlin and Soft Surroundings, announced Tuesday it has acquired the women’s apparel brand. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Trying to picture how home improvements will look in your mind’s eye can be tough, and Lowe’s is using emerging technology to expand the view.

Kyle Nel, executive director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs, recently told Chain Store Age how retailer’s proprietary technology development center is developing an app for the new Project Tango virtual reality (VR) mobile platform. Jointly created by Google and computer technology company Lenovo, Project Tango provides mobile devices with spatial capabilities.

The NRF annual “Big Show” conference is always marked by a few key technology trends. While the event has been known to throw a few unexpected surprises at attendees, usually it confirms and advances the direction industry momentum has been traveling.

Here are three major themes that will likely be prominently featured and discussed at this year’s NRF conference, which runs January 17 - 20, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.

‘Omnichannel’ Comes of Age

In the next few years, retailers around the world are set to substantially increase their investments in e-commerce software, with five vendors spearheading the growth.

According to a new study from Research and Markets, the global retail e-commerce software market will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.95% during the period 2014-2019. Research and Markets has identified Magento, Oracle ATG Commerce, PrestaShop, Shopify and WooThemes as the five key retail e-commerce vendors.

Move over, Amazon, Target and Google – the fresh delivery space is getting a little more crowded.

FreshDirect, the New York-based online provider of custom and prepared grocery items and meals, is launching a mobile one-hour fresh item delivery service.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. offers a highly customized product across multiple channels, which can make planning tricky.

Add in that the 400-store global retailer has an aggressive strategy for further international growth, and ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of its omnichannel merchandise planning becomes what could be called a “bearish” task.

Vertical specialty denim retailer Lucky Brand is bringing together disparate parts of its business onto one platform.

Lucky Brand has implemented NetSuite OneWorld to run a variety of omnichannel business processes across its consumer- and business-facing operations. These include inventory management, procure-to-pay, fixed assets, and multi-currency and multi-tax compliance management.

Plus-size fashion retailer Torrid has a new model to showcase in its latest omnichannel marketing campaign.

The company has announced the winner of its model search: Lyanna Lynette. The 26-year-old Southern beauty was revealed in a 12-episode Web series on YouTube. The first of its kind in plus-size fashion, the series follows the four finalists as they compete to become the Face of Torrid 2016. The series can be watched, in full, on Torrid's YouTube channel.