Omnichannel

Truly last minute shoppers will be able to visit the corner of happy and healthy this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day where Walgreens said most of its nearly 8,200 stores will be open.

The company, which features “at the corner of happy & healthy” as its advertising tag line, said most stores will be open until midnight on Christmas Eve and its roughly 1,600 24-hour stores would stay open around the clock. On Christmas Day, most of the company’s non-24-hour stores will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Cambridge, Mass. – Akamai is introducing enhancements to its Akamai Intelligent Platform web experience solution including EdgeStart, which uses Akamai’s globally-distributed network along with accelerated rendering in the browser to help deliver portions of web pages to users immediately and decrease load time. New protocol optimizations are intended to help overcome highly congested networks.

Washington, D.C. -- Over 80% (84.2%) of retailers say their standard shipping deadline for guaranteed Christmas delivery will expire prior to Friday, Dec. 20, according to Shop.org’s eHoliday survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Free standard shipping offers will follow suit, as nearly three-quarters (74.2%) of retailers who already have or will offer a free standard shipping promotion say their promotion will expire on or before Dec. 20. (Shop.org is a division of the National Retail Federation.)

Minneapolis – Target says that online traffic continues to grow at double-digit rates, with mobile sales growing more than 100% for the holiday period. Target.com experienced two of the strongest days of sales in its history on Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.

In addition, Target was recently ranked as the most-browsed retailer on mobile over the past six months, according to a new report from Mobiquity.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Prepaid payment network Blackhawk Network unveiled a partnership arrangement with Coinstar, offering customers of Coinstar’s 20,300 coin exchange kiosks a selection of Blackhawk eGifts for no fee when they cash in coins via the kiosks.

The eGift codes are redeemable at issuing retailers – either in-store, online or via mobile devices. Merchants include Gap, iTunes, Lowe's, Southwest Airlines, Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and others.

Toledo, Ohio -- Hickory Farms has launched a new website featuring faster page load times, easier navigation, and improved search and checkout functions. Customers can shop on-the-go with the site's mobile and tablet-friendly design.

Amazon is touting its Prime program again this holiday season, reminding members that they can order gifts as late as midnight EST Sunday, Dec. 22, and still get free delivery before Christmas.

The online retailer is leveraging the shorter shopping period this year, which is one week shorter than last year’s, to drive sales by emphasizing the convenience that online shopping can afford — a surefire way to draw shoppers who want to avoid the imminent crowds this weekend.

Wayne, N.J. -- Toys “R” Us announced that, beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Dec. 21, it will remain open continuously through 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, leveraging last-minute toy shoppers’ most frenetic shopping hours.

All Toys “R” Us stores nationwide are advertising around-the-clock savings and deals during the final 87 hours of Christmas shopping, along with daily deliveries through Christmas Eve. Only full-service stores in Paramus, N.J., and Puerto Rico, will not be open 24 hours a day.