Store Systems

Plano, Texas -- J. C. Penney Company will open its first-ever store in Brooklyn, further increasing its New York City footprint, on Aug. 29. The all-new 124,000-sq.-ft., single-level store, located in Gateway Center, will provide a look at Penney's updated store model, which includes a new footwear format.  

Amazon’s Fire TV’s app selection has more than doubled, with hundreds of services and games added since launch, including the official Flappy Birds Family — currently a Fire TV exclusive game.

New services include WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney Jr., MLB.TV, Animal Planet L!ve and WWE Network, with more already on the way. By the end of the year, TV services such as WATCH ABC, WATCH ABC Family, NFL Now, A&E, Lifetime, Outside TV, Young Hollywood, North Face TV, Fashion TV, Green TV and Dailymotion will all be available to Fire TV customers.

San Francisco – Out-of-stocks and placement continue to be key issues for back-to-school retail efforts. According to a field study of 465 retailers across the U.S. from mobile contractor Gigwalk, 47% of the retailers visited had an issue with their back-to-school displays.

Forty-five percent were due to the product being out of stock, followed by missing price and having the product in the wrong display. Other findings include:

• 49% plan to spend more this back-to-school season.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is updating its website with new features and enhancements to provide shoppers with a more personalized, faster and improved shopping experience.
   

Epson, a leading supplier of value-added Point of Sale (POS) solutions, and Mobivity Holdings Corp., a provider of retail customer engagement and marketing technologies, have entered into a strategic partnership to transform receipts from transactional to actionable.

Dallas – The global Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.03% during the period 2013-2018. According to a new report from Sandler Research, one of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the reduction in labor costs.

The global Electronic Shelf Labels market has also been witnessing the increasing demand for ESL by retail stores. However, Sandler Research advises the increasing competition among vendors could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

San Francisco -- Digital payments company Square announced that it has acquired Caviar, a start-up that specializes in food deliveries from high-end restaurants.

“Caviar’s curated, seamless delivery experience is exactly the kind of service we want to provide to buyers and sellers,” said Square cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey. “By making delivery such a fast, friendly, and easy process, Caviar gives time back to restaurants so they can focus on what they do best — cooking great food for their customers.”

Listening to Walmart describe enhancements to its online shopping experience — improved navigation, increased localization, simplified checkout — it sounds like the retailer is talking about its physical stores.

Whether online or in stores, the touch points the shopper experiences on their path to purchase have much in common. No surprise then that the range of enhancements Walmart said it made to its site this week are focused on the same things all retailers focus on to create a positive physical experience.