News Briefs

Saks Global is reportedly looking to raise funds to help pay down its debt.

The parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus is in talks to sell a 49% stake in luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman for about $1 billion, reported the Wall Street Journal. At least four bidders are in the running, including Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and strategic investors, according to the report.

Saks reportedly intends to use the proceeds from a sale to pay down debt after last year’s acquisition of Neiman Marcus. Saks acquired the high-end retailer in late December in a deal valued at $2.7 billion. At the time of the closing, Neiman operated 36 namesake stores, two Bergdorf Goodman stores and five Last Call off-price outlet. (WWD reported that Saks carrying more than $4 billion in debt.)

“We have initiated a strategic process to explore the potential sale of a minority stake in Bergdorf Goodman,”  Richard Baker, executive chairman, Saks Global, said in the Journal report. “While Bergdorf Goodman is core to our strategy, this process is intended to unlock value for our business and de-lever our business.”

Saks is also in the process of selling $600 million of real estate and currently owns properties valued at roughly $9 billion, according to the report. 

Walmart's drone delivery service has achieved a new milestone.

In an email to Chain Store Age, Walmart said that it has achieved an official Guiness World Record in partnership with Grammy Award-winning rapper/singer Cardi B and Wing, an on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google’s parent company Alphabet. 

In a recent first-of-its-kind album drop in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro market, the discount giant delivered 176 signed copies of Cardi B’s new album “Am I the Drama” to customers in one hour, setting a new official world record for most drone deliveries in one hour.

All CDs were filled from local Walmart stores, and the album is still available for sale on the Walmart e-commerce site. Cardi B posted about the record-setting event on her official X (formerly Twitter) profile.

Walmart initially launched drone-based deliveries from three stores in Northwest Arkansas in late 2021, then expanded a partnership it launched with Wing for drone delivery in the Dallas-Fort Worth market in August 2023. 

In June, Walmart said it is now offering its drone delivery service in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa. This move makes the company the first retailer to scale drone delivery across five states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. 

[READ MORE:Walmart brings drone delivery to five new markets]

Amazon is touting the success of one of its pharmacy initiatives.

Amazon said it has provided customers more than $100 million in savings on prescription medications by automatically applying manufacturer-sponsored coupons directly to eligible orders. First introduced in 2020, Amazon Pharmacy operates as a full-service online pharmacy that delivers prescription medications directly to customers’ doors in all 50 states.

The retailer’s analysis of the savings data reveals that medications for chronic conditions represent the largest portion of customer savings. GLP-1 medications commonly used for weight management ranked as the top category, followed by insulin for diabetes management. EpiPens for treating severe allergic reactions were also a significant source of customer savings.

 In 2023, Amazon Pharmacy began automatically applying manufacturer-sponsored coupons directly to Amazon Pharmacy orders from eligible customers.  The company works with several major pharmaceutical manufacturers  to integrate coupons for their brand-name medications directly into checkout on the Amazon Pharmacy website and app and automatically apply them at checkout when eligible. Customers do not need to perform any clipping, clicking, or downloading.

The retailer’s analysis of the $100 million savings data reveals that medications for chronic conditions represent the largest portion of customer savings. GLP-1 medications commonly used for weight management ranked as the top category, followed by insulin for diabetes management. EpiPens for treating severe allergic reactions were also a significant source of customer savings.

"For patients, finding and applying medication coupons has traditionally been a tedious, confusing process involving searching online, downloading forms, enrolling in programs, or calling drug manufacturers directly," said Tanvi Patel, VP and GM of Amazon Pharmacy, in a corporate blog post. "We believe it should be much easier for patients to find and afford their prescribed medications."

Online checkout abandonment is becoming a major issue for retailers, but emerging technology could help remedy the problem.

One-in-four U.S. executives report losing more than $1 million annually at online checkout, reveals a new survey conducted by Talker Research on behalf of global payments platform Spreedly The most common causes of failed checkouts are customer abandonment (29%) and unsupported payment methods (28%).

In an effort to combat losses, 83% of executives believe that by 2027, most payments will be initiated, optimized, or completed by artificial intelligence. However, respondents cited several potential risks associated with AI-led payments, including losing transparency about who the customer is (23%), compliance and regulatory risk (21%) and false positives leading to lost revenue (20%). 

[READ MORE: Online holiday shoppers value this feature more than discounts]

Fifteen percent of those surveyed said they did not have any concerns about AI's role in future payment processing. Millennial executives are more optimistic about AI's role in payments, while Gen Z leaders cite consumer trust and disintermediation as top concerns.

"AI has incredible potential to transform payments," said Peter Dougherty, president of Spreedly. "But executives in the survey also revealed they're already paying a steep 'engineering tax' – with as much as a quarter of their engineering teams dedicated to maintaining fragile checkout flows. AI should be layered thoughtfully to strengthen these payment systems, not replace them entirely and introduce new risks."

The "State of Checkout 2025" survey was conducted in August 2025, and featured 500 senior U.S.-based executives (VP and C-suite) across retail, travel, financial services, technology, manufacturing, healthcare and other more.

The largest omnichannel hair color retailer in the U.S. and a leading on-demand delivery platform will jointly offer a three-day pop-up experience in New York City.

Sally Beauty, which specializes in hair color and care products, and DoorDash are presenting a pop-up shop offering more than 300 products such as hair care kits and styling tools from Thursday, Sept. 25 – Friday, Sept. 27 in three different locations across New York City.

The pop-up will appear in Union Square on Sept. 25, Flatiron on Sept. 26, and SoHo on Sept. 27. Attendees will receive a complimentary swag bag filled with hair, nail, and lash products.

In addition, consumers who visit the pop-up experience or spot a pop-up truck that will be roaming New York City during that time will obtain exclusive access to a limited-time DoorDash promotion to shop their fall beauty essentials from Sally Beauty. 

The pop-up will also feature daily scratch-off prizes on top-rated products available exclusively at Sally Beauty. The retailer has been offering same-day delivery online supported by DoorDash Drive, the DoorDash white-label fulfillment platform, since 2021 and has been delivering online orders from more than 2,000 Sally Beauty stores across the U.S. via DoorDash since 2024.

[READ MORE: Sephora, Sally Beauty, MAC Cosmetics partner with DoorDash]

"At Sally Beauty, we're committed to making professional-quality beauty accessible to everyone," said John Goss, president of Sally Beauty. "By teaming up with DoorDash, we're meeting consumers where they are — bringing them fall's top beauty essentials in a way that's fun, convenient, and inspiring."

Customers can follow @sallybeauty on Instagram for exact pop-up times and locations.

Fast-growing Wawa’s growth plans include its home state.

The convenience store chain is aiming to open about 10 new stores in Central Pennsylvania's Centre County (home to the University of Pennsylvania) and the surrounding area during the next five years and as many as 50 new sites in the region by 2035, according to a report by StateCollege.com. Each new store will be a $7.5 million investment, with 140 contractors per store construction and 35 Wawa employees at each location, the report said.

According to the report, seven sites are under contract in the central Pennsylvania region, including two in State College, the home town of University of Pennsylvania. 

Wawa has been expanding into new markets. In July, the chain opened its first store in the state of Kentucky, in Louisville. The location is the first of up to eight Wawa locations slated to open in Kentucky by year’s end. 

The company is also entering Tennessee, with six locations planned to open before the end of 2026. Most recently, the chain opened its first-ever travel center, in Hope Mills, N.C.