Omnichannel

The Cellular Connection, the largest Verizon wireless retailer in the U.S., has unveiled a new design in its store in Indianapolis that will be incorporated into all its new stores moving forward. The design  is focused on providing a hands-on shopping experience and help customers understand how to fully integrate their technology purchases into their lifestyles.

Specialty apparel retailer Chico’s reported strong fourth quarter results and announced plans to debut a new format and enter Canada in 2013.

The company said sales for the 14 week fourth quarter ended February 2, increased 14.5% to $652 million thanks to the inclusion of an extra week in the reporting period, a 3.7% same store sales increase and a net increase of 101 new stores that expanded selling space by 8.1%. The 3.7% comp increase is noteworthy because it came on top of an 8.7% comp increase during the fourth quarter the prior year.

New York -- Barnes & Noble reported on Thursday a loss in the fiscal third quarter, hurt by a 26% decline in revenue for its Nook e-book readers.
 
The company posted a loss of $6.1 million quarter through Jan. 26, compared to a profit of $52 million in the year-ago period. The retailer blamed the loss partially on charges stemming from weaker-than-expected sales of Nook e-readers during the holiday shopping season.
   
Revenue fell 9% to $2.22 billion. Analysts had predicted sales of $2.4 billion.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is planning a rollout in Canada that will be bigger than any single year's worth of its store openings in the United States ever, executives of the company said Wednesday morning in a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the mass merchandise retailer's fourth-quarter and full-year 2012 results.

Fort Meyers, Fla. -- Chico's FAS’ fiscal fourth quarter net income rose 26%, helped by new store openings and the same of more items at full price. The quarter also had an extra week of sales.

Chico’s earned $31.5 million for the 14 weeks ended Feb. 2, compared with $25.1 million in the 13-week period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 15% to $651.9 million, from $569.2 million. Wall Street analysts had expected higher revenue of $666.1 million.

Same-store sales rose 3.7%.  

New York -- A new report by Experian Marketing Services finds that several key retail trends will impact how marketers shape their messages in 2013.

According to the 2013 Digital Marketer Report, consumers today are multi-device and multichannel shoppers, forcing digital marketers to adapt and evolve their message to reach consumers across channels and all along the path to purchase.  

SEATTLE — Amazon.com announced that its Amazon Cloud Player app for iPad and the iPad mini is now available in the Apple App Store. The app allows customers to play or download music stored in Cloud Player to their iPad, play music that is already stored on their device, and manage or create playlists.

By Oren Betzaleli, EVP, head of product and marketing, Retalix

As smartphones and tablets continue to infiltrate the market, they are increasingly changing the way people interact with each other, receive information, and expect to be served by retailers and service providers. As a result, more and more retailers are starting to offer self-service mobile applications as a popular means to manage customer interaction and relationships.

Retailer-Owned vs. Consumer-Owned Self-Service