Omnichannel

BURNABY, B.C. — Best Buy has named Ron Wilson as its new president and COO of its Canada operations, effective immediately. In this role, Wilson will lead the business in Canada under the Future Shop and Best Buy brands, including online.

Burlington, Mass. -- Demandware, a leading provider of enterprise cloud commerce solutions, announced that Brooks Brothers launched a new e-commerce site on the Demandware Commerce platform.

New York -- More than half (53%) of industry leaders believe that improving customers’ retail experience is essential to creating a successful mobile payments scheme, according to a recent survey by SAP.

The study, SAP’s third consecutive GSMA Mobile World Congress survey, found that the “secret sauce” for creating a better retail experience includes POS services such as near-field communication (28%), facilitating universal acceptance of mobile payments (25%) and location-based point-of-sale offerings (24%).

DOVER, N.H. — Zander Livingston, CEO of Truecount Corp, an RFID software provider, announced that Truecount is introducing a new Software as a Service (SaaS) pricing and deployment model that places inventory visibility and all other RFID benefits within the reach of any size retailer. 

I have to admit, the recent announcement of the merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax took me by surprise. It’s not as though it doesn’t make sense — it’s logical both logistically and financially — but, while there had been a few rumblings and rumors, this is a dramatic move that took place with relatively little forewarning.

NEW YORK and MINNEAPOLIS — Target has teamed up with Fast Company to launch Co.Labs & Target Retail Accelerator, a contest for developers to create a new mobile experience for Target and claim a $75,000 grand prize. Fast Company will chronicle the developers' efforts on its new technology vertical Co.Labs.

New York -- Walmart will open as many as 115 small-format stores this year, according to Bill Simon, president and CEO of Walmart U.S.  

Simon discussed the chain’s store portfolio during a presentation at Raymond James Institutional Investors conference. He noted that Walmart’s smaller-format stores (below 60,000 sq. ft.) are making inroads against dollar stores, supermarkets and drug stores and will play a key role in the company's future.  

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — GSI Commerce, an eBay Inc. company, said it has extended its contract with PetSmart to support the retailer’s omnichannel strategy with webstore, fulfillment and customer service solutions. GSI has worked with PetSmart since 2007, and this contract will extend the relationship for three years.