Omnichannel

By Rudy Pataro,  [email protected]

Retailers at NRF’s convention this week got a citing of Bill Fields, a former Walmart executive who spent 25 years with the company serving in various roles from 1971 to 1996. Today Fields is chairman of a group called China Horizon, a joint venture with the Chinese postal service charged with helping to develop retail and consumption in rural China, and it was the topic of China that Fields addressed during the super session: “Making the retail business dynamic,” sponsored by Microsoft.

San Francisco -- Women’s active lifestyle brand Athleta has opened its first full-scale retail location, on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Athleta was acquired by Gap in 2008

“This store opening launches the next phase of our multichannel growth plan for the Athleta brand,” said Toby Lenk, president of Gap. Direct, the division which houses the Athleta brand. “What began as a catalog business 12 years ago, evolved into a successful online channel, and today marks another milestone for the Athleta brand.”

NEW YORK - The retail industry descended upon the Javitz Center in New York City this week for the National Retail Federation’s 100th Big Show, and despite the tough economy, the general mood of the show was one of optimism and excitement. 

Addressing the packed auditorium before Monday’s super sessions, NRF president and CEO Matt Shay said. “There are very few organizations that enjoy the stature of retail, very few businesses that contribute more to the local economy.”

El Segundo, Calif. -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market on Wednesday said it will open its first stores in Northern California in March and April, with the first two scheduled to open March 2 in San Jose and Danville. Nine additional locations are scheduled to open in the area within the two-month time frame.

Fresh & Easy also said it also plans to open two stores in San Francisco early this year.

Tracy, Calif. -- Retail Custom Solutions, a developer of specialty retail systems announced today that Overland Sheepskin Co. has gone live with RMS.NET V6.1 for its retail, web and catalog-based customers.

Armonk, N.Y. -- The U.S. online retail sector delivered double-digit growth in December 2010 compared with the same period last year, according to analytics-based findings by IBM. Online sales were up 12%, with consumers pushing the average order value up from $171.06 to $190.42 for an increase of 11.3%.

New York City -- Global Bay Mobile Technologies, a provider of next-generation mobile retail software, announced that City Sports and Things Remembered are the first retailers to deploy the Global Bay iPad Kiosk solution, a module that leverages the Apple iPad into an in-store kiosk.