News Briefs

A regional grocery wholesaler and co-op is customizing shopper interactions at individual stores.

Associated Food Stores (AFS), which operates corporate and member stores across the Intermountain West is utilizing the Birdzi customer intelligence and engagement platform to provide personalized engagement and advanced customer insights on a store-by-store basis.

"The flexibility of the Birdzi platform enables AFS to customize engagement strategies for individual stores, allowing both us and our members to operate with greater efficiency in today’s competitive grocery landscape," said Jason Sokol, VP of marketing, Associated Food Stores. 

The implementation includes the Birdzi shopper analytics platform, coupon flyers and audience engagement tools. AFS will also deploy the Birdzi Visper personalization engine to use entire store catalogs to strategically generate custom promotional offers for each shopper.

AFS will also utilize the analytics suite to gain an enhanced understanding of customer responses, engagement and interactions. Other regional grocery retailers leveraging Birdzi personalization technology include Tops Friendly Markets and Strack & Van Til. 

Full rollout of the Birdzi platform is expected to be live across AFS in time for the 2024 holiday season.

"In partnering with one of the country’s largest grocery wholesalers, Birdzi showcases the unique flexibility of our platform, which can be crafted to fit the needs of any individual retailer," said Shekar Raman, CEO and co-founder, Birdzi. "We’re honored to earn the confidence from our first wholesale customer and are confident that our platform will work seamlessly with more than 400 AFS member retailers."

Founded in 1940 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, AFS currently serves nearly 450 retailers across Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Poag Development Group, which acquired Oak Court Mall in Memphis last year for $14.25 million, has acquired a department store at the property. 

Poag and its investment partners have acquired the 400,000-sq.-ft. Macy’s at the center for $7 million. According to the mall’s website, it is the largest Macy’s store in the region.

“Macy’s approached us after our acquisition of Oak Court Mall to see if we would be interested in acquiring their store and leasing it back to them,” said Poag. “Our group of investors was eager to jump at the opportunity, as we have already invested in the mall to ensure that the property stays in local hands to be maximized for its highest and best use in the future.”

[READ MORE: Poag Development acquires super-regional mall outside of Grand Rapids]

The Memphis-based developer will work with JLL, its strategic leasing partner, to maximize the potential of the property at the two-story shopping center. Poag added that with Macy’s now under its control, it will determine how to move forward with any potential redevelopment at the property.

“Our redevelopment plans [of Oak Court] were put on hold as we worked through the Macy’s acquisition,” said Poag. “Now that we know what we can control for the long term, we will solicit feedback from stakeholders and neighbors as to what they feel is needed in the community before any major redevelopment decision is made.”

Merchants have a favorite day when it comes to dropping coupons for shopping.

Friday emerged as the day with the highest number of new coupon releases, offering shoppers the best opportunity to find fresh deals when shopping online, according to a study by SimplyCodes, a social savings and AI-powered promo code platform. Saturday and Sunday showed a significant drop in coupon activity, while Sunday consistently had the lowest number of new coupon releases.

The study, which analyzed coupon release patterns in marketing emails from 30,000 merchants, found that a noticeable surge in coupon releases occurs midweek, specifically on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Women's clothing, skin care and adult beverage stores were identified as the categories with the most active coupon releases on Fridays.

"In today's digital age, consumers are bombarded with promotional emails, often missing valuable savings hidden within," said Allison Mac, VP of marketing at SimplyCodes. "Our study reveals a clear pattern in coupon releases, with Friday emerging as the prime day for deals. Retailers typically release new offers towards the end of the week to capitalize on the weekend shopping rush. Since many people receive their paychecks on Fridays, stores aim to capture that fresh spending power."

SimplyCodes recommends that consumers don't be so quick to delete promotional emails received Wednesday through Friday, and consider making planned purchases on Fridays and through the weekend to access more valid coupons.

The full study can be found here.

Costco Wholesale Corp. is giving some app users a sneak peek at in-stock items.

According to Fox Business, the membership-based warehouse club retailer is beta testing a tool on its mobile app that lets customers click a "warehouse" button, located between the "account" and "cart" buttons at the bottom of the app, to bring up a search bar.

The search bar enables customers to enter the names and/or descriptions of items they wish to buy to see if they are in stock at a selected store. Costco reportedly began testing mobile store inventory search in June 2024, and there have been a number of posts from customers on X (the social network formerly known as Twitter) referring to the new app feature.

Read more Fox Business coverage here.

Other recent moves from Costco include installing membership scanning devices at the entrances to all its stores and increasing its annual membership fees by $5 in the U.S. and Canada.

Costco currently operates 884 warehouses, including 611 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 108 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 33 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, four in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden.

Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

Walmart will soon feature hundreds of pre-verified sneakers from online marketplace StockX directly on its site.

According to Yahoo Finance, StockX has selected Walmart as its first strategic marketplace channel, with inventory from StockX to be offered for sale via the Walmart Marketplace third-party e-commerce and mobile commerce platform starting the week of Sept. 9, 2024.  The partnership is the first time StockX has  integrated its inventory into an outside marketplace. 

Walmart told Yahoo Finance that thousands of items from StockX, including sneakers, fashion and collectible products, will become available via Walmart Marketplace during 2025.  The StockX marketplace allows buyer and sellers to place bids on items in real time at prices line with current demand. Shoes are verified new and come in their box.

According to the retailer, Walmart Marketplace has achieved more than 30% sales growth in each of the past four quarters and is helping drive double-digit U.S. e-commerce growth for six consecutive quarters. The number of sellers listing items on Walmart.com grew 20% during fiscal 2023.

"Walmart’s vast customer base — many of which are new to StockX — will get to experience the platform in a way that is convenient for them," StockX said to Yahoo Finance in a statement. “StockX sellers can also reach this built-in audience of loyal Walmart customers without sacrificing their current volumes on StockX, as products will be listed across both platforms at scale, delivering massive demand to StockX sellers."

Read more Yahoo Finance coverage here.

Walmart has been expanding the scope of Walmart Marketplace. At its annual "Let’s Grow! 2024 Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit," the discount giant announced new offerings including a resale storefront, expanded categories, and several fulfillment and logistics services.

Other recent examples include offering third-party sellers of Chinese products a new avenue to sell directly to Walmart customers and connecting tire sales on its online marketplace to its in-store auto care centers.

Rally House has arrived in one of Texas’ major cities.

The sports merchandise and gifts retailer is continuing to grow its footprint in the Lone Star State by opening its first store in the Austin area. The location at Lakeline Mall in neighboring Cedar Park is the company’s 30th store in Texas. 

Rally House’s entry into the Austin market follows the retailer’s recent entrance into Houston over the summer. Earlier this year, Rally House reached the milestone of its 200th store after openings in Philadelphia, Louisville, West Virginia, Chicago and Buffalo.

"We are always looking to expand in Texas and extend our reach to some of the most passionate sports fans in the country,” said Aaron Johnson, VP of marketing strategy at Rally House. “Rally House Lakeline Mall provides students, alumni and residents in Austin the outlet to shop the best selection of officially licensed sports apparel and merchandise around. Rally House is ready to go for the [University of Texas] Longhorns' first season in the SEC!"

Rally House stores offers a large selection apparel, hats, gifts and home décor representing local NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS teams in addition to locally inspired apparel, gifts and food. The Austin store will carry Texas fan-favorite teams including the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Austin FC, San Antonio Spurs, and other various Texas college teams.

[READ MORE: Rally House expands into a new state]

Based in Lenexa, Kas., Rally House operates more than 225  locations across 21 states.