News Briefs

WH Smith PLC is doubling down on its airport travel shop business in North America. 

The London-based retailer, which opened 40 stores in North America this year, said it recently won some “significant new airport business,” including wins for stores at Dallas, Denver and Washington Dulles airports, and is also the preferred bidder for a further 15 stores across two major U.S. airports. 

WH Smith plans to open about 60 shops in North America during the next two years. By 2028, the company expects be operating around 500 stores, up from its current total of 341. (The total includes 256 stores in airports, 83 in resorts and two in rail stations.)

“North America, the world’s largest travel market and with increasing passenger numbers, is our most exciting growth opportunity where we see excellent prospects to further grow our airport business,” WH Smith said in a financial release. “This division will continue to become an increasingly significant part of the Group and is now our second largest division in profit terms, after Travel UK. “

WH Smith is a leading global retailer in news, books and convenience for the world’s travel customer. It has more than 1,700 stores across 30 countries worldwide.

In April, Toys”R”Us parent WHP Global signed a long-term license agreement with WH Smith as the exclusive shop-in-shop partner for Toys"R"Us in the U.K.

Staples has adapted its product data for an online-focused customer experience in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg.

The office supplies giant’s Staples Benelux subsidiary had previously received single orders from department and office managers purchasing items for an entire team, using a printed catalog. 

However, as business shifted online and an increasing number of remote employees began placing individual orders, the retailer found it had to providing a searchable, streamlined online customer experience for home office shoppers.

To support this initiative, Staples Benelux deployed the Akeneo product information management (PIM) platform. This helped the retailer manage its assortment of 55,000 SKUs provided by a wide variety of distributors and wholesalers using their own product attribute standards and preferred languages, which had been manually managed by a two-person team.

Staples Benelux decided to implement Akeneo PIM, working with Sitation, to bring all of its content up-to-date. The dashboard system and completeness score feature made it easy to share progress updates with the rest of the company and track improvement in real time.

In addition, import and customization features enabled the retailer to work efficiently with consistent, accurate data while collaborating with multiple suppliers, partners, and wholesalers.

In one year Staples Benelux was able to double its product catalog and the company's goal for 2024 is to quadruple it. In addition, leveraging Akeneo PIM Staples Benelux has been able to use bulk actions to fix data errors, update thousands of products to include the keywords consumers are using, and automate content creation workflows with wholesale partners and supplies, without needing to invest more resources.

[READ MORE: Zenni centralizes product information management]

Two generations are most receptive to making a purchase after seeing a digital ad.

 Over a third (37%) of 45-54 year olds and 40% of 55-64 year olds said they make purchases from ads they see online at least every few months — greater than the average of 31%, according to a report from technology company LoopMe. The findings indicate that marketers will need to be highly targeted with their spend if they want to capitalize on older shoppers' online ad engagement, noted the company.

In other findings, 26% of the 45-64 age demographic are happy to see advertising in exchange for free online content — on the condition that ads aren’t intrusive. On average, 13% of this demographic prefer viewing ads than paying to read content.

The research also explored consumer perceptions of ad placement. It found that shoppers were more likely to notice ads embedded within the content itself, with 17% of all consumers stating it was where they most frequently noticed ads. This was followed by top of the page (10%) and bottom of the page (8%). 

While 33% of consumers feel that ads have become too intrusive and overwhelming, younger shoppers welcome the increased relevancy and personalization of ads – with 14% of 18-24 year old shoppers and 17% of 25-34 year old shoppers feeling positive in this regard.

The research was conducted in October 2024 to mark the 30th anniversary of the first online ad, which debuted on Wired magazine’s website HotWired on Oct. 27, 1994. That first banner ad was the start of a revolution in online advertising, leading to a range of formats being utilized by brands aiming to engage with potential customers, noted LoopMe.

LoopMe, which uses artificial intelligence to improve brand advertising performance, surveyed 1,318 U.S. consumers in October.

Whole Foods Market will celebrate the opening of three locations in December.

The natural and organic foods grocer will open two stores on Dec. 10, including a  42,024-sq.-ft. location in Boynton Beach, Fla., and a 44,600-sq.-ft. location in Nashua, N.H. On Dec. 12, a 44,648- sq.-ft. Whole Foods will open in Stamford, Conn.

The Stamford Whole Foods will be located in a site previously occupied by department store retailer Lord & Taylor.  Inspired by the former store’s layout, the renovated space features curated spaces that give each department its own boutique feel, showcasing a blend of natural textures and rich tones. 

The three new stores will all offer local products from suppliers based in the home state. Other features will include:

• Full-service seafood counter;
• Specialty department dedicated to celebrating cheesemakers and artisan producers;
• Full-service meat counter, with butchers available to cut steaks and poultry to order;
• Prepared foods department featuring a hot bar, salad bar and pizza.
• Bakery department offering made-in-house bread as well as everyday favorites;
• Whole Body department with a large assortment of wellness, beauty and lifestyle items;
• Curated grocery section filled with private label favorites from 365 by Whole Foods Market and local products;
• A vibrant produce section, evoking a fresh, organic market feel; and more.

Southern casual-dining chain Huddle House is expanding in a big way in the Lone Star State.

The chain, known for all-day breakfast and homestyle food, has signed its largest franchise deal in its history, securing 20 new units across Texas. The record-breaking agreement is led by WE Food Enterprises Hospitality Group LLC (WE Foods). The first location is slated to open by June of next year in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, with three additional openings planned in surrounding areas that month.

“This franchise agreement marks a significant milestone for Huddle House and showcases the success of our development team,” said Peter Ortiz, chief development officer at Ascent Development, the parent company of Huddle House. “WE Foods represents the ideal franchise partner, who is dedicated to operational excellence and committed to creating positive guest experiences. This achievement continues to demonstrate the growing interest from prospective franchisees, and we look forward to more wins ahead.”

WE Foods cited Huddle House’s value, diverse menu, and welcoming environment as a factor for the 20-unit deal.

“Our team has extensive experience in the restaurant industry, and we have actively sought the right franchise opportunity for quite some time,”  said Justin Criswell, chief information officer at WE Foods. “The Huddle House franchise team has been exceptional in supporting our vision to bring people together. Huddle House stood out to us because we aligned with its values and mission. We hope to create a welcoming hub for colleges, local schools, and families while creating meaningful job opportunities for students.”

[READ MORE: Store Expansion News: October update]

Founded in 1964 and based in Atlanta, Huddle House has nearly 300 locations open or in development.

Stater Bros. Markets is streamlining it third-party delivery operation to enhance driver performance and order volume.

The largest privately-owned supermarket chain in Southern California partners with omnichannel location technology provider Flybuy by Radius Networks to improve its third-party delivery experience. 

During the past two years of leveraging the Flybuy delivery platform, Stater Bros. says it has seen a 15% reduction in driver wait time, a 25% increase in order volume, and a 50% decrease in delivery driver walk-ins. The grocer utilizes the solution to help ensure a faster handoff between its staff and delivery drivers to reduce overall wait times for customers. 

As they do with customer pickups, Stater Bros. store associates now receive accurate delivery driver estimated time of arrival and complete visibility into the delivery driver's progress to the store.  The retailer also deploys Flybuy tools to prevent third-party delivery issues such as drivers entering staging areas and prematurely grabbing incomplete orders.

Stater Bros. has also improved its delivery order accuracy and efficiency, helping to minimize delivery-related refund costs due to missing or wrong items. In addition, the retailer says delivery customers are receiving their orders faster and without error, leading to a higher level of satisfaction.

"Flybuy helps grocers like Stater Bros. create a seamless connection between staff, drivers, and customers, ensuring that deliveries are faster and more accurate,” said Marc Wallace, CEO and co-Founder of Flybuy. By reducing inefficiencies like driver walk-ins and improving order accuracy, everyone in the process wins.”

[READ MORE: Giant Eagle slashes delivery driver wait times with AI-based alerts]

Based in San Bernardino, Calif., Stater Bros. operates nearly 170 stores.