Omnichannel

Ulta Beauty's formula of one-stop shopping for prestige, mass and salon beauty products continued to produce impressive sales growth in the third quarter.

American Express Serve announced this week that it and Rite Aid and Dollar General had joined forces to allow American Express Serve account holders to add money to their cards at the retailers’ locations around the country. The two companies join CVS/pharmacy, Family Dollar, Family Dollar, Walmart and 7-Eleven as places where customers can do a Free Cash Reload of their cards.

U.S. retailers looking for a new source of revenue may be in luck.

The number of China-based consumers shopping U.S. brands online during the holiday season has increased seven times from 2014, which is a record level according to Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay. Alipay also found that total sales from China-based consumers purchasing U.S. products with its Alipay ePass cross-border e-commerce solution increased 15 times from the prior year.

Cabela's has confirmed that it is in the process of reviewing strategic alternatives weeks after speculation surfaced that Bass Pro Shops is looking to acquire the retailer.

Cabela's announced Wednesday that its board of directors is initiating a process to explore and evaluate a wide range of strategic alternatives to further enhance shareholder value.

Despite significant investments by many retailers, U.S. consumers are unsatisfied with the levels of customer service offered this holiday season.

According to the new 2015 Retail Holiday Customer Experience study from customer engagement solutions provider Eptica, 35% of consumers are unhappy with the online experience. This figure rises to 40% in store.

Forever 21 is heeding the popular wisdom that mobile devices serve as omnichannel remote controls with its new app.

The fast-fashion chain is unveiling a new Android app and updating its existing iPhone app. Designed to enhance the shopping experience in-store and online, the app features five key touch points, including:

• F21 Inspiration – displays shoppable editorial stories, shop by outfits, lookbooks and exclusive videos.

Harry Rosen, Inc., a 17-store, Toronto-based luxury menswear retailer, is making the back-end effort to offer a front-end omnichannel experience.

Harry Rosen has chosen the Jesta I.S. Omnichannel Retail Suite, including merchandising, planning, distribution, POS and mobile POS, financials and business intelligence. The retailer expects to centralize its operations on the Jesta I.S. Vision Suite, bringing the entire company onto a single, integrated retail platform.

Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) is going green for its first store in Lower Manhattan.

The retailer will open a 25,000-sq.-ft. store at Westfield World Trade Center, set to open in spring 2016. It will be H&M’s 17th location in New York City, and its first U.S. store to apply for LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification.