Omnichannel

Orlando, Fla. -- The digital marketing initiative known as “My Weekly Ad” is helping CVS Caremark grow sales and deepen engagement with loyal customers by providing them with personalized versions of the retailer’s weekly ad.

The My Weekly Ad program was launched last fall, and Wednesday morning during a presentation at the IRI Summit CVS Caremark senior VP of merchandising and retail pricing Judy Sansone shared additional details regarding the program.

Verifi, a leading provider of global electronic payment and risk management solutions for card-not-present merchants, and ReD (Retail Decisions), a leading global fraud prevention services company, have agreed to jointly develop new products and solutions to benefit CNP (card-not-present) merchants.

Seattle -- Starbucks has announced upcoming enhancements to its mobile app for iPhone, which will allow customers to provide Starbucks employees with a tip directly from the Starbucks App for iPhone. Beginning March 19, customers using Starbucks App for iPhone in the U.S., U.K., and Canada will experience a streamlined design and access to their account and My Starbucks Rewards information.

Cleveland - Sherwin-Williams is launching an online Spanish-language platform, SWLatino.com, focusing on Hispanic homeowners, contractors and designers. Sherwin-Williams will feature tips, how-to articles and color information from leading Hispanic bloggers and Sherwin-Williams color experts.

The new site, integrated with Sherwin-Williams Facebook and Twitter accounts, will connect Latino paint and color professionals, homeowners and designers with Spanish-language content.

Atlanta -- Severe winter weather hindered shopping activity in February, according to First Data Corp.'s SpendTrend report, which tracks same-store POS data by credit and debit cards, closed loop prepaid cards, EBT, and checks from the nearly four million retail locations serviced by First Data.

Consumer spending was also restrained by the termination of emergency unemployment insurance, a reduction in food stamp benefits and low-income growth, First Data said.

eBay is making updates to its seller performance standards and returns policy designed to promote and safeguard top-level sellers and also ease returns.

By Loreal Lynch, VP marketing, Shopatron

The rise of multichannel shopping has forced retailers to begin implementing strategic omni-channel initiatives across their organizations in an effort to satisfy increasing customer demands. These initiatives are ushering in even higher customer service expectations from shoppers who have no patience for disconnected experiences that fail to match the omni-channel marketing promise.

The phrase “game-changing” is arguably the most overused in business, but a strategic alliance that IRI president and CEO Andrew Appel announced this week actually fits the bill.

During introductory remarks at IRI’s annual summit, Appel shared with the more than 1,000 attendees gathered in Orland details of a huge data sharing partnership between IRI, comScore and Rentrak.

“Far and away, this is the biggest innovation IRI has done in the past 15 years,” Appel said.