Store Systems

As the largest, most diverse generation ever, it’s impossible to predict the full impact millennials will have on the retail landscape.   Unlike their older counterparts, millennials are digital natives with preferences and behaviors continuing to shake up the retail world. This poses a quandary for retailers. In n a highly competitive market, how can they engage millennials without alienating or “creeping out” older consumers?  

Los Angeles’s Broadway Theater District was the first such entertainment strip to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Is the famed alley of theater palaces now poised to make retail history?  

Nordstrom remains in expansion mode with its Nordstrom Rack division.   A 26,000-sq. ft. Nordstrom Rack is scheduled to open in spring 2017, at CityPlace, a 100-acre, master-planned development in Woodbury, Minn.   The property is owned and managed by Elion Partners, a Florida-based real estate investment firm.     

Customers at all of Walmart’s 4,600-plus U.S. stores can now use the Walmart Pay digital payment service.   This is an impressive feat, especially considering Walmart Pay was only announced in December 2015 and didn’t start undergoing official rollout until May 2016. While everyone agrees Walmart Pay reaching full implementation is a big deal, there is less agreement on how this will affect the digital payment landscape.  

Tom Petty fans can commiserate with retailers who report having difficulty implementing EMV due to slow movement from the payment card industry.   According to a new survey of retailers conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) in May and June, 48% of respondents had already implemented the new EMV chip card system or expected to have done so by the end of June. A total of 86% expect to have EMV up and running by the end of the year.  

A text-based “store” may sound like a flight of fancy, but Kaboom Chat is graphically bringing it to life.   The Dallas-based specialty comic book retailer is leveraging the Samus Chat text-based commerce app to offer a mobile store and informational platform. Kaboom Chat asks customers some discovery questions when they first register, which then enables the retailer to auto-populate the SMS-based store when they visit via mobile phone.  

Operating seven stores, McLendon Hardware Inc. may not seem like a top target for a customer data breach.   However, the Renton, Washington-based chain understands that no retailer of any size is immune to the risk of having sensitive customer data stolen by cybercriminals. That is why McLendon utilizes an Epicor deployment of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) SecureData Payment security solution.  

The Wendy's Co. is offering an update on a cyberattack it first reported in February 2016, and it contains some decidedly unsurprising details.   Wendy’s believes the breach resulted from third-party service providers' remote access credentials being compromised. This allowed access, and the ability to deploy malware, to some franchisees' point-of-sale systems. To date, Wendy’s said there has been no indication that any Company-operated restaurants were impacted.