Omnichannel

Walgreens recently made it easier for customers to clip coupons.

While Tractor Supply Co. broadly applies advanced analytics across the enterprise, BJ’s Wholesale Club is using analytics as a point solution.

Looking to offer a more targeted and competitively priced assortment, BJ’s is rolling out the price suite from merchandise optimization technology provider Revionics. The technology will help improve customer-centric prices while taking the competitive landscape into account.

Amazon Books is headed to Hudson Yards, the massive redevelopment underway on New York’s west side, according to a report in the New York Post.   The online retailer debuted its bricks-and-mortar retail format last November, at University Village in Seattle, and is set to open a second location, in San Diego, this summer. A third location, at Washington Square Mall, in Tigard, Oregon, is expected to open this fall. The Hudson Yards location would be Amazon’s East Coast beachhead.  

Entertainment concepts are the future of retail fun

Retail has been the foundation of shopping centers throughout their existence, but new entertainment concepts are making inroads in traditional retail venues.

Even in mixed-use venues, it’s generally accepted that a critical mass of traditional retail is the highlight, and that other uses are complementary pieces, designed to drive traffic and support the retail component.

Smart mirrors are a ‘cool’ in-store technology, but facial recognition software is another story entirely.      Those are among the findings of a new survey by RichRelevance, a provider of omnichannel personalization technology. The company surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers about how technology can impact their in-store shopping experience, highlighting the  differences between what shoppers thought was ‘cool’ and ‘creepy’.  

With 15 regional stores, New York-based Fairway Market needs to compete with larger rivals on quality of experience.   To that end, Fairway has deployed the omnichannel retail platform from Index to help better communicate with customers and provide an optimal experience across various touchpoints. The platform includes secure in-store payment solutions that offer processing flexibility and are compliant with EMV and P2PE protocols. Fairway can also accept a variety of tender types, including Apple Pay and Android Pay.  

Walmart did not reach its stated goal of rolling out the Walmart Pay digital payment service to every store by the end of June, but it certainly made a lot of headway.  

Tuesday, July 12 marks the return of Amazon Prime Day.   Based on last year’s results, Amazon will grab a sizable chunk of all online sales that day. Special “countdown deals” starting July 5 will also help funnel more e-commerce traffic than normal in Amazon’s direction. Walmart is countering with its own July online sales event built around its ShippingPass free shipping program.