Store Systems

A recent Infosys Rethinking Retail Survey found that 86% of consumers who have experienced personalization technology while shopping have admitted that it has influenced their purchasing decisions. Moreover, 69% of consumers responded to the study stating that consistency of customer service across physical and online stores was of importance to them.

Montreal -- Town Shoes Ltd. will upgrade its POS and merchandising systems with the Jesta I.S. Vision solutions in its network of close to 200 stores across Canada. With the upgraded suite of solutions, Town Shoes will be able to modernize its supply chain and deliver the right products to customers, faster than ever before.

The technology-driven innovation spree occurring in the retail industry offers merchants, marketers and operators unprecedented shopper insights capabilities — and a host of new opportunities.

Stamps.com has integrated its USPS shipping with Shopify, a leading commerce platform that allows consumers to sell online or at their retail locations.

Foot Locker is off to a great start in 2014. The specialty athletic retailer’s first quarter sales and profits were the highest in its history for the third consecutive year.

Net income for the quarter ended May 3 was $162 million, or $1.10 per share, compared with net income of $138 million, or $0.90 per share, last year. Total net sales increased 14%, to $1.9 billion this year, compared with sales of $1.6 billion for the corresponding prior-year period. Comparable-store sales increased 7.6%.

Walmart is reportedly planning to substantially expand its e-commerce operation based in Sunnyvale, California. According to the Oakland Tribune, Walmart intends to add hundreds of staffers to its global e-commerce unit there, bringing the total number of e-commerce employees to about 1,000.
 
In addition, Walmart will lease a 107,000-sq.-ft. space in Sunnyvale to help house its e-commerce operations. Currently, the retailer employs about 550 e-commerce employees in Sunnyvale at an existing facility it will maintain.

Stein Mart has named Sara Meza as director of e-commerce. Although Meza came on board in April — after a 12-year tenure at Belk where she led the original launch of the retailer’s website business — the company made the announcement in conjunction with solid first-quarter results.

Net income for the quarter decreased to $14.1 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, from a net income of $14.7 million, or $0.33 per diluted share in 2013.

Seattle — Ross Dress for Less plans to open a new 35,000-sq.-ft. store at Ballard Blocks shopping center in Seattle, next year.

The 131,000-sq.-ft. Ballard Blocks is a LEED Silver Certified urban mixed-use retail and office project located next to the Ballard Bridge off-ramp and NW Ballard Way where more than 70,000 cars pass daily. The project has 525 parking stalls on site with an additional 50 spaces on the street.