Omnichannel

Gurnee, Ill. -- Construction has begun on a 140,000-sq.-ft. full-line Macy’s that will anchor a new full-price wing at Gurnee Mills, in Gurnee, Ill.

With the addition of the department store, which is expected to open in late summer 2013, Gurnee Mills said it will be distinguished as the first hybrid shopping destination of its kind, combining full-price, outlet and value retail all under one roof.

Seattle -- Family Dollar Stores has selected AccessVia Web dSignShop software-as-a-service (SaaS) to print shelf-edge signs and labels in their stores. The solution is designed for retailers who want to outsource implementation, maintenance and support activities. Using data from a central source, Web dSignShop SaaS delivers print and digital promotions to stores for immediate availability and high-speed production via the Internet.

London -- The British department store Selfridges received the “Best Department Store in the World” award at the Global Department Store Summit in Paris.

Selfridges took the top slot amongst finalists from around the globe, including Macy's and Woolworths (South Africa). The U.K. retailer also won the award, which is given out every two years, in 2010.

New York -- Research by ACI Worldwide and Aite Group has identified a new group of smartphone fanatics – coined Smartphonatics – are driving demand for mobile banking and other financial services.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- A “Live Help” feature, detailed information about products and services and access to personal account information are the three most important features consumers expect to find at a company’s website, according to an annual survey by Oracle. The company surveyed more than 3,000 consumers worldwide regarding their use of customer service channels including call centers, live chat, click-to-call and email.

Woonsocket, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy is taking a greater step toward targeting the Hispanic market with the launch of its new Spanish-language website.

Like the English-language site, the Spanish version, located at http://es.cvs.com, enables shoppers to manage their prescription account, get health information, purchase products, access coupons, etc. According to a MediaPost article, Google indicated that the new CVS Spanish website consists of 67,000 pages, most of which are product SKUs.

Montvale, N.J. -- A&P president and CEO Sam Martin will star in the retailer's new integrated marketing campaign highlighting the company’s vision to be the best neighborhood food and drug store, the company said Wednesday.

The campaign’s theme is “shopping just got a whole lot better,” and it will mark the first time that A&P will run one marketing campaign across all of its A&P, The Food Emporium, Pathmark, Superfresh and Waldbaum’s stores.

By Matthew Talbot, [email protected]