Omnichannel

By Sherry Orel, [email protected]

Retail today is supposed to be all about the experience. After all, it’s so easy to shop online. And yet so many retailers could be providing a much richer customer experience if they only made a few simple changes that meet customers needs and expectations.

Welcome to the new and improved Chain Store Age! We've changed the size of our magazine (yes, the pages are bigger — it's not your imagination), and updated the style and size of our type fonts with the goal of making CSA more reader-friendly and allowing us to incorporate more visuals going forward. We've also introduced a new logo, one that better reflects retailing's omnichannel environment.

Austin, Texas – Digital coupon provider RetailMeNot is expanding into Canada with the launch of its new RetailMeNot.ca site. The site provides Canadian consumers with access to thousands of digital coupons for more than 6,000 retailers doing business in Canada.

Dick’s Sporting Goods has partnered with IMG academy to develop an innovative new digital training platform to help the retailer drive increased engagement with athletes looking to achieve peak performance.

Los Altos, Calif. – Catalog Spree, which promotes itself as a “digital mall” providing online access to retail catalogs, has added several brands to its mobile shopping app. Retailers — including Forever 21, JC Penney, Kohl's, Target, Toms Shoes, Torrid and Urban Outfitters — now have Catalog Spree “lookbooks” that provide online browsing of catalog-style product selections. Catalog Spree also has added a price watch feature that sends users automatic notifications when prices on desired goods drop to a certain point.

St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio, are ground zero for a new initiative from News America Marketing that blends e-commerce with the traditional free-standing insert.

Denver – Furniture Row, parent company of home furnishings retailer Denver Mattress, is using the Oracle ATG e-commerce solution to both personalize the Denver Mattress e-commerce site and make it adaptable to the format of any device the customer chooses to employ. Using the “adaptive design” website design methodology enabled by ATG technology, the Denver Mattress site instantly recognizes what type of device — such as PC, smartphone or tablet — a customer is using and optimizes display for that specific screen.

By Mohammad Hashemi, [email protected]