Omnichannel

Meijer has prepared a lot of holiday deals for the Black Friday weekend and is now offering a sneak peek to allow its customers plan ahead of time.

Dan McNutt, Retail, Exel   With the holiday season right around the corner, the coveted shopping season is even closer with Black Friday and Cyber Monday merely weeks away. In years past, holiday shopping was targeted to brick and mortar, Black Friday foot traffic, but with the steady boom in e-commerce, the shopping frenzy is now taking place in the digital world as well.  

ALDI is accelerating its growth and dramatically increasing its presence in the Northeast with the acquisition of 66 Bottom Dollar Food stores from Delhaize Group.

Delhaize said it reached an agreement to sell its 66 Bottom Dollar stores in the greater Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets for $15 million and associated lease liabilities. Delhaize said it would take an asset impairment charge of $180 million in conjunction with the sale.

Jeffersonville, Ind. --  A majority of consumers (88%) say free shipping makes them more likely to shop online, while 30% shop online to find the best deal possible and 20% to avoid holiday crowds, according to a new survey from omnichannel customer engagement technology vendor Accent.   Other notable findings include:  

Mateo, Calif. -- ShopRunner announced a new partnership with Alipay which will pave the way for Chinese online shoppers to buy directly from U.S. retailers’ ecommerce sites. Alipay is China's leading e-payments provider and is widely used by hundreds of millions of Chinese online shoppers.  

San Jose, Calif. -– Online prices are expected to hit rock bottom on Thanksgiving Day, lower than on any other day during the holiday season. According to the Adobe Online Shopping Report, record sales are expected for Thanksgiving with $1.35 billion and Cyber Monday with $2.6 billion, increases of 27 and 15%, respectively.   

Sam’s Club has joined the ranks of other retailers this holiday season with a pre-Black Friday-themed promotion occurring mid-month.

On Saturday, Nov. 15, Sam’s Club will host a one-day-only Holiday Savings Celebration featuring Black Friday pricing on featured technology, toys, apparel, jewelry and home goods items. Starting at 7 a.m. and exclusive to Sam’s Club members, families can fill their baskets in-club or online with top holiday picks while getting ahead of the typical Black Friday frenzy, according to Sam’s Club.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples Inc. is launching holiday in-store, online and mobile deals starting Nov. 16 through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In addition to discounts on a variety of items, Staples is offering an in-store and online price match guarantee, a new mobile app with a redesigned weekly ad page, daily deals on Staples.com, and shopping from in-store kiosks for items not available in the store.