Store Systems

SAN FRANCISCO — Converse is adding to its roster of stores in key metropolitan areas with the opening of its first location in San Francisco, bringing the leading footwear brand's total of inline locations in the U.S. to five.

SAINT LOUIS — Aisle411, developer of a mobile in-store navigation platform for retail stores, has bolstered its advisory board with some Google muscle. Don Dodge’s appointment helps to round out the company's executive management team.

Chicago - Belk, the nation's largest family owned and operated department store company, was honored as Innovator of the Year at the 2013 Oracle Retail Excellence Awards. The award recipients were announced at Oracle’s annual Oracle Retail CrossTalk customer event, held June 25 to 27 in Chicago.

Other Oracle award winners included the British department store company John Lewis plc for Outstanding Customer Experience, and Deckers Outdoor, the footwear company,  for Outstanding Business Performance.

Walnut Creek, Calif.  - In a webinar on June 27,  analysts from RSR Research presented insights gleaned from numerous retail IT-focused events they attended this past spring. Their findings focused on five key areas: next generation POS/store/commerce engine, buy side of omnichannel, user experience, high performance computing and cloud.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Finish Line's current president and COO Steve Schneider has announced his plans to retire after 24 years with the company.

Shareholders of Coinstar, the company behind the ubiquitous RedBox dvd rental machines, have adopted the name Outerwall as a new corporate identify.

The name change was confirmed at the company's annual meeting of shareholder on June 27, but an official tally of voting results won’t be available until July 2.

Oklahoma City – Homeland Stores, a regional grocery retailer operating under several banners including Homeland, United, Country Mart, Super Save and Super Plaza, is partnering with mobile payment technology provider DoubleBeam to introduce new iPhone and Android mobile applications that enable customers to pay for purchases via smartphone.

Price, location and selection fade as real differentiators

Remember when retail gurus used to say that when it came down to it, retail strategy was all about location, location, location? Location still matters, but not as much as it used to. With the explosion of online retail, brick-and-mortar retail strategies are changing. But it's not just location that has receded in importance. Price and selection don't matter as much anymore either.