Store Systems

Men's Wearhouse is turning to a veteran of Google and Bebe Stores to be its new chief digital officer in charge of all digital and omnichannel initiatives.

Ben Baum will become EVP and CDO and report to Doug Ewert, CEO. Baum will lead all digital and omni-channel commerce and initiatives across digital, mobile and emerging platforms within the Men's Wearhouse organization including all individual brands and businesses via integrated omnichannel solutions.

Duluth, Georgia -- NCR announced that California-based apparel retailer M. Fredric is enhancing its retail point-of-sale (POS) and inventory management systems with NCR Counterpoint.

The solution provides M. Fredric with a single retail management software platform to closely track purchases and inventory levels in real-time across its nine brick-and-mortar locations and e-commerce store. By providing real-time sales data, NCR Counterpoint will enable M. Fredric to benefit from increased visibility for stock purchasing decisions.

On Thursday, Google introduced Android Pay, which will power in-app and tap-to-pay purchases on mobile devices. Here are some comments from Pat Dermody, president of Retale, a location-based mobile platform connecting shoppers with their favorite local retailers, on the new feature:

Outdoor specialty retailer Gander Mountain remains on a path for national expansion with its recently opened store in El Paso giving the operator of 160 units its westernmost presence.

Most of St. Paul, Minn.-based Gander Mountain’s stores are concentrated in the upper Midwest and Mid-Atlantic state, but recent years have seen a steady incursion into new markets in the south and West. Prior to the opening of the 61,000-sq.-ft. El Paso location on May 26, Gander Mountain’s westernmost market was Denver where it operates two stores.

Denton, Texas - Sally Beauty Holdings Inc. is releasing new information about a data breach that occurred at varying times between March and April 17, 2015, its second in less than a year. Criminals are believed to have used malware deployed on some Sally Beauty POS systems, which may have put payment card information of customers at risk.

San Francisco - Westfield San Francisco Centre has enlisted RetailNext Inc., a provider of retail analytics for brick-and-mortar stores, to provide in-store retail analytics technologies and services for Bespoke, its new retail-technology hub. Bespoke is made up of tech demonstration, coworking and event spaces.

By Jeff Trachsel

Showrooming has plagued brick-and-mortar retailers for years, with e-commerce quickly chipping away at in-store sales. Recently however, experts report the rising trend is actually the reverse - shoppers are now exploring options online before buying in-store. According to a 2014 report from BI Intelligence, reverse showrooming, or webrooming, is actually more common among U.S. consumers, with 69% of consumers researching online before transacting in-store.

GameStop continued to reap rewards from its omnichannel strategy in the first quarter, as the retailer reported an impressive increase in same store sales.