Omnichannel

Cincinnati -- Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores plan to open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2018 as part of a strategic partnership with Al Tayer Group LLC, a UAE-based company with diversified businesses. This will be Macy’s first international store location and the second for Bloomingdale’s.   

By Murali Nadarajah, Xchanging Malaysia   Consumers can purchase virtually anything they want anytime from anywhere, from the Internet to social media to mobile devices to good old brick-and-mortar stores. As a result of today’s omnichannel approach to retail, chain stores now have access to a massive collection of customer data that hasn’t existed until recently.  

Beijing, China -- Alibaba Group is rebranding its Taobao Travel online travel business as an independent business and brand named “Alitrip.” Alitrip will be another marketplace platform under Alibaba Group with a new independent web domain, www.alitrip.com.   

Beijing, China –- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Apple Inc. are reportedly considering partnering on digital payment. According to the Wall street Journal, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook have both made separate public statements about partnering, with Ma more specifically citing digital payment, and plan to meet on the matter.  

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Cosmetics retailer Ultra Beauty has implemented Oracle Commerce to support growing e-commerce sales and deliver a consistent consumer experience across its more than 696 retail locations as well as mobile, web, guest services, and direct mail channels.  

By Jeff Weidauer, Vestcom International   There’s been a lot of discussion in recent months about store sizes, in particular the fact that stores are getting smaller, primarily because of the impact of e-commerce. For example, Walmart and Target are both committed to offering smaller format stores.   

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's announced that it will enter its first two stores in Manhattan. The home improvement giant has two locations slated to open in the second half of 2015, one at 2008 Broadway at West 68th Street, and a second at 635 6th Avenue at West 19th Street.  

Washington, D.C. –- Nearly eight in 10 (79%) retailers surveyed will set their standard shipping deadlines for guaranteed Christmas delivery to expire at least a week before the holiday, compared to 74% who said in the 2013 holiday season. In addition, according to Shop.org’s EHoliday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, approximately one in five (21%) will set those deadlines to expire Dec. 19 or later, compared to more than one-quarter who said so last year (25%).