News Briefs

Patagonia launching a get-out-the vote initiative that includes a financial incentive to encourage registered voters to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.

The outdoor apparel company said it will give a $100 credit, redeemable on its website or retail stores, to U.S. customers who get three people to create a plan to vote. If the project is successful, 112,000 people will get $100 off their Patagonia order (or make a $100 donation to the League of Conservation Voters). 

Patagonia, a longtime and outspoken supporter of the environment, said the plan is aimed at reaching the millions of environmentalists who did not vote in the U.S. general election in 2024. The company cited research from the Environmental Voter Project, which found that 11.2 million registered-to-vote environmentalists did not vote in the 2024 election.  

Patagonia's “11.2 Million Vote Project” will launch on Saturday, Sept. 26, which is Public Lands Day. There are 90 million acres of public land at threat across the nation, according to the company.

The voters that Patagonia customers refer are sent to a third-party website where they can check their voter registration, and find out if they can vote early and whether they need to show identification at their polling site, reported The New York Times. They must then develop a plan to cast their ballot, by voting early or voting by mail or in person on Election Day.

The project is nonpartisan. Participation is open without regard to party affiliation, voting intention or location. 

Patagonia has closed its U.S. offices, stores and warehouse for every federal election since 2016. In 2018, Patagonia co-founded "Time to Vote,” a nonpartisan nationwide business-led movement to ensure workers don’t have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting. The initiative now includes more than 2,000 companies.

A digital furniture platform is letting customers plan and purchase items for rooms from multiple retailers using a single touchpoint.

Furniture.com is rolling out Moodboards, a digital planning solution providing shoppers one place to organize ideas and visualize a complete room. Using real products from Furniture.com's more than 70 retail partners, including Rooms To Go, Raymour & Flanigan, Kathy Kuo Home, One Kings Lane and Regina Andrew, customers can create visual room plans by combining furniture from multiple brands with paint colors, wallpaper, flooring, fabric, tile and wood finishes. 

Every board is fully shoppable across multiple retailers in a single checkout and customers can save pieces to see how they work together before making a purchase. Shoppers can start with a blank canvas, build from their saved favorites, or use a curated template. They can upload photos of their own space, add notes, rearrange products, remove backgrounds, and incorporate thousands of real paint colors and material swatches from the Furniture.com library.

When customers are ready to purchase, every board remains fully shoppable. Shoppers can compare alternatives, review product details, and add an entire room to their cart with a single click through Furniture.com's unified checkout.

Initially launched in March 2025, Furniture.com operates as an omnichannel "one-stop shop" by integrating store location and inventory data within its search engine to enable customers to explore, test and purchase furniture items from its retail and brand partners either digitally or in person. 

[READ MORE: Furniture.com seeks to streamline furniture shopping experience]

"People aren't struggling to find beautiful furniture,” said Frances Levison, associate VP of product at Furniture.com. “They're struggling to make confident decisions. Moodboards gives shoppers a workspace where they can compare ideas, experiment with different combinations, and confidently move from planning to purchasing." 

Sam’s Club is allowing CPG brands to target individual shoppers with SKU-level promotions.

The warehouse club subsidiary of Walmart has rolled out the InComm Generated Offers (IGO) solution from InComm Payments. Leveraging IGO, Sam’s Club enables participating brand partners to create personalized digital offers that are authenticated and redeemed in real time at checkout. 

IGO generates unique offers for individual recipients, which they receive as barcodes sent to their email or mobile device. Recipients then scan the barcode at the point of sale and IGO validates it against qualifying purchases in an effort to help reduce fraud, prevent misuse and give brands greater control over promotional spending. 

Brands partnering with Sam’s Club can use IGO to support a variety of programs, including CPG promotions, loyalty offers, rewards programs, customer appeasement initiatives and custom retailer campaigns. The solution processes offers as real-time payments at the point of sale, with this SKU-level approach intended to help reduce duplicate redemptions and unauthorized offer stacking while supporting a more seamless omnichannel shopping experience. 

[READ MORE: Sam’s Club adding display ads into Scan & Go feature on its app]

"Brands are looking for promotional solutions that deliver value to consumers while giving them greater security, control and visibility over campaign performance," said Mary Llewellyn, senior VP of retailer marketing at InComm Payments. "With Sam's Club now accepting InComm Generated Offers, participating brands can extend personalized promotions through more key retail destinations while maintaining SKU-level control over how offers are distributed, validated and redeemed." 

Based in Bentonville, Ark., Sam’s Club operates more than 600 locations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has reached a new milestone as it continues its store expansion.

The closeout retailer will open its 700th store on Sept. 24 in Maplewood, Minn., an eastern Twin Cities suburb. At the new location, customers will be able to browse a rotating assortment of products across categories, including housewares, food, bed and bath, health and beauty, books, toys, lawn and garden, seasonal decor and more.

The new Minnesota opening continues the store growth for Ollie’s. The retailer opened 15 new stores during the second quarter, ended Aug. 1, and 42 during the first half of the year, putting more than halfway to its full-year target of 75 new openings.

[READ MORE: Placer.ai: Store visits surge at these retailers…]

"We are thrilled to celebrate the opening of our 700th store in Maplewood," said Eric van der Valk, president and CEO of Ollie's. "Since our start, Ollie's has been passionately committed to serving communities by delivering extreme value on products people want and need. Ollie's offers real bargains on real brands in a thrilling, fun and quirky environment that is like no other in retail. We're especially proud to celebrate this milestone in Minnesota, a testament to how customers are loving what Ollie's offers across the Midwest.”

For its most recent quarter, Ollie’s reported strong financial results. Adjusted earnings were $1.42 per share for the quarter ended Aug. 1, up 43% from the year-ago period. Net sales increased 9.1% to $741.3 million, driven by new store growth, although analysts were looking for sales of $756.4 million.

Founded in 1982, Ollie’s operates 700 stores in 39 states.

Revolve Group has entered into a partnership with Donatella Versace to create a new business. 

The digital-first fashion retailer and legendary designer, who stepped down as creative director of Versace in 2025, plan to create a new beauty and fashion business aimed at younger consumers. The independent venture, whose name will be revealed in the coming months, will reflect Versace's personal creative vision, and be designed around how a new generation discovers style, experiences culture, shops, shares and connects, according to a release announcing the deal.

The new business will launch initially across the United States, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. It will pair Versace's creative direction, cultural influence and audience with Revolve's technology, consumer intelligence, operating platform and direct relationship with millions of consumers. 

"The ambition is to create exceptional design and best-in-class product without compromise — while building a digital-first world people can participate in, not simply buy from," the release stated. "Fashion, beauty, entertainment, talent, creators and community will come together through content, experiences, conversation and commerce."

Versace will lead the venture's creative vision as chief freative officer, shaping its identity, product, collaborators and cultural world. Revolve will power the business through its global capabilities across digital commerce, technology, consumer intelligence, operations, marketing and community.

"By combining Donatella's creative authority with Revolve's technology, infrastructure and global reach, we have an opportunity to create something genuinely distinctive — and build it for the long term." stated Mike Karanikolas, co-founder and co-CEO, Revolve Group.

First Look: Revolve expands in brick and mortar 

(Photo courtesy of RevolveGroup // Photo Credit: Yulia Gorbachenko)

Insta360 has made its U.S. flagship store debut in New York City's Times Square.

The opening marks the popular Japanese action camera brand's first physical location outside of Asia. It comes as Insta360, whose cameras allow users to record 360-degree movements by video, said it has surpassed 10 million cameras shipped worldwide. 

The Times Square outpost is designed as an experience center, offering hands-on product testing, in-person education, technical support and a community space. By letting visitors test 360 action cameras, gimbals (a device that holds a camera or smartphone in place) and wearable cameras in person, the store bridges the gap between online visibility and real-world understanding — helping consumers move from recognizing viral videos to learning how the technology works and capturing their own everyday moments, according to the company.

"Reaching 10 million cameras shipped worldwide is a milestone we owe to our community, but opening in Times Square is about building lasting roots," said Max Richter, co-founder and VP of marketing at Insta360. "This store opening is about more than just selling into the U.S.; it reflects our long-term commitment to the American creator ecosystem. We look forward to continuing our support for local creators, connecting directly with everyday users, and making innovative imaging tech approachable for anyone with a story to tell."

The Times Square outpost flagship is part of Insta360’s broader global retail strategy, which includes a Tokyo location opened last month, dozens of authorized stores across Asia, and future European expansion.

Insta 360’s lineup includes 360 cameras in the X Series, thumb-sized GO Series for everyday capture, as well as an extensive range of action cameras, gimbals, webcams and professional photography solutions.