Store Systems

This year’s top third-party managers have logged tremendous increases over last year. Take a look.

Editor’s Note: The 25th annual survey of Fastest-Growing Managers surveys new domestic and international third-party management and leasing contracts obtained during the 2013 calendar year and ranks the top performers. As always, the measuring stick is square footage.

San Francisco - Revel Systems, has introduced a new hardware and software product bundle aimed at providing technology features for the visually impaired. The inherent touch-screen nature of iPad POS terminals are without tactile qualities, making them not fully accessible and independently usable by the visually impaired.

Staples has unveiled a new plan called EasyTech Total Support, which provides consumers and small businesses with comprehensive technology services for both their new and old PCs, including upgrades, maintenance and installations.

The service builds on the company’s EasyTech program launched in 2007.

Groupe Dynamite eases global expansion with new tech platform

Having the potential for growth that exceeds the capability of your existing systems is a good problem to have, but it is still a problem. Groupe Dynamite, a fast-fashion women’s apparel retailer based in Montreal, faced that very challenge in early 2010.

By Jason Fredrickson, Guidance Software

The recent cyber attacks on Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores had an immediate and profound impact on sales, as well as a widespread and ongoing ripple effect on consumer confidence in the safety of credit-card information at point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Rite Aid posted $2 billion for the four weeks ended April 26, representing a lift of 4.9%. Same-store sales increased 5% over the prior-year period.

April front-end same-store sales increased 4.7%, with 4.6% of the increase attributable to a shift in the timing of Easter, which fell on April 20 this year, compared with March 31 last year. Pharmacy same-store sales, which included an approximate 138 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions, increased 5.2%. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 2.3% over the prior-year period.  

Retailers are taking advantage of the mobile channel for an increasing number of activities, including personalized marketing, in-store traffic monitoring and customer recognition. However, while using the mobile channel to create temporary POS stations might be less flashy than some of these other applications, letting customers “surf” between fixed and mobile POS terminals can be an effective means of improving both the customer experience and store profitability.

A Night at the Opera

Ten years ago, demographic experts predicted a looming talent shortage: When the massive baby boom generation retired, the small Generation X would not have enough experienced leaders and managers to fill the positions that boomers would vacate.