Omnichannel

Manhattan Beach, Calif. – Skechers USA Inc., which recently passed Adidas to become the number two athletic footwear brand in the United States, is on the fast track.

The company, whose second quarter sales beat estimates, has carved out a lucrative niche in casual athletic footwear and in kids’ athletic footwear. It is in expansion mode, with plans to open 125 to 135 company-owned and third-party-owned stores later this year.

Menlo Park, Calif. – Facebook is preparing a move from Instagram advertising to actual Instagram commerce.

In a call with investors, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the social media giant would roll out the ability to purchase items directly from Instagram ads as part of an expansion of Instagram ad formats.

Best Buy is taking another leap forward in its quest to make shopping across platforms as easy as possible for consumers.

The retailer, in partnership with American Express, has integrated new technology that allows Amex card members enrolled in the Amex Membership Rewards program to seamlessly use their points for online purchases on BestBuy.com. In addition card members can use their membership rewards points for all or part of each online purchase and either pick it up in one of Best Buy’s stores or have it delivered to their doors.

A recent study shatters several myths about the consumers who will spend nearly $290 billion in consumer-packaged goods by 2020: millennials.

Framingham, Mass. - With an ever-growing population of individuals gaining access to smartphones and mobile devices, there's no avoiding the escalated demand to meet consumers where they are with the precise product they want. According to a new study from IDC Retail Insights, this need will in turn drive the capabilities built by distributed order management (DOM) solutions providers.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market on Wednesday posted disappointing third quarter earnings and revenue, but it also gave out some more details about its new, value-driven store concept.

The company revealed that it will debut the format, 365 by Whole Foods Market, in the second half of next year, with the first store opening in the Silver Lake section of Los Angles. It plans to open up to five 365 stores (all in the second half of next year), with the expectation of doubling the number of openings in 2017. Stores will average about 30,000 sq. ft.

Ann Arbor, Mich. – Social media and search engines are two of the most popular online destinations, but are heading in different directions when it comes to customer satisfaction. According to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), social media’s index score climbed 4% to a score of 74 on a 100-point scale.
    

Milford, Conn. -- It’s getting harder and harder to keep track of all the activity in the mobile ordering and mobile payment space. The latest big announcement comes from Subway.

The fast-casual restaurant giant announced on Thursday new updates to its mobile app and website that include more mobile payment options, along with giving customers the ability to order on-the-go. Subway said it is adding PayPal as an option customers can use to pay for meals when they order remotely or pay in-store using the Subway app’s mobile payment feature.