Omnichannel

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. has opened two new Sears Hometown Stores. The stores are located in Longmont, Colo. and Wenatchee, Wash., and will celebrate their official grand openings Feb. 28-March 1.

The stores were the 15th and 16th Sears Hometown Stores to open in 2013. If a product is not available in-stores, Sears Hometown Store associates can order customers any product from the entire merchandise selection offered by Sears.

Banana Republic will unveil an omnichannel marketing campaign called “True Outfitters” in March 2014.

Styled by Jessica Diehl and shot by Mikael Jansson, the campaign was developed with Laird+Partners, Banana Republic's advertising agency. The campaign will appear in March and April publications, supplemented by outdoor, online and direct mail. Digital portions include a dedicated website and a special YouTube event on March 2.

New York -- Rick Caruso, founder and CEO of Caruso Affiliated has launched a new blog on LinkedIn Influencers, an exclusive blog site for influential thought leaders. To read his inaugural post, visit post, ”The Indoor Mall is Dead, But Physical Retail Thrives.”

Overstock.com has been named the 2013 Compuware Best of the Web Gold award winner in the U.S. Retail Product Order Transaction category and the Bronze award winner in the U.S. Retail Last Mile category.

The annual Compuware Best of the Web awards honors the top performing mobile and websites. The awards measure home page and key user transactions based on average response time, availability and consistency of websites across five U.S. industries (i.e. retail, banking, brokerage, insurance and travel) based on analysis throughout 2013.

Ingolstadt, Germany -- Media Markt – Saturn Holding Netherlands, the Netherlands subsidiary of German electronics retailer Media Markt, has deployed Pricer ESLs in all 45 stores in the Netherlands. This investment in electronic shelf label (ESL) technology is part of Media Markt – Saturn Holding Netherlands’ omni-channel concept, which is based on an active and flexible pricing policy, and on having matching sales prices at any time in the company's brick-and-mortar stores and its online shops.

By Hedgie Bartol, Business Development Manager Retail, Axis Communications

Seattle – Amazom.com is reportedly seeking to strike deals with about 10 major retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, and Lord & Taylor, to sell their goods via listings on its e-commerce site.

Fort Myers, Fla. – Chico’s FAS Inc. is reportedly building a mobile shopping app for the iOS and Android platforms. According to the Wall Street Journal, the app will integrate with iBeacon location sensors on shelves.

This app, currently in pilot testing, would reportedly use iBeacons to notify customers who have opted in when they are near items that fit their purchase history. Associates would then use iPads to update the customer’s history.