News

Sears, Kohl's and The Home Depot are among the retailers that have earned 2016 Energy Star awards from the EPA for leadership in sustainability efforts.

Each year, the Environmental Protection Agency honors a select group of organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. Whether a first time Partner of the Year winner, or a Sustained Excellence winner, these small and large organizations from across the country are leading the energy efficiency movement.

Sears Holdings has named an expert in digital transformation to fill the newly created role of chief administrative officer.

The company has named James P. Andrew to fill the new position, which will be responsible for the company's corporate support functions, including financial planning and analysis, business finance, procurement, legal, and human resources.

Consumer expectations are increasing and retailers are keeping up—but their trading partners are lagging.

This is one of the key takeaways from the fourth annual industry benchmark survey by Retail Systems Research (RSR) commissioned by SPS Commerce. The goal of the survey was to examine the internal and external forces driving today’s retail ecosystem, an industry that has evolved more in the past decade than in the past century. That evolution continues this year, with three critical drivers at the forefront:

Online delivery service Instacart is launching its first expansion of 2016 – and it’s a big one.
 
Instacart is now offering deliveries in as little as one hour from Whole Foods Market, Gelson’s Market, Stater Bros. Markets, Ralphs, Smart & Final, Costco (no membership needed), Petco, and H Mart to residents of Orange County, California. Whole Foods will offer delivery via Instacart at prices that are the same as shoppers find in-stores.
 

Mall owner Westfield Corp. has acquired two buildings owned by Macy’s at Westfield Mission Valley mall in San Diego for approximately $16.5 million.

Included in the sale were a full-line Macy’s department store and a nearby — and much smaller — building that houses a restaurant.

The purchase comes as the retailer remains under pressure from an activist investor to sell off full or partial stakes in some of its real estate.

Online delivery service Instacart is launching its first expansion of 2016 – and it’s a big one.

Instacart is now offering deliveries in as little as one hour from Whole Foods Market, Gelson’s Market, Stater Bros. Markets, Ralphs, Smart & Final, Costco (no membership needed), Petco, and H Mart to residents of Orange County, California. Whole Foods will offer delivery via Instacart at prices that are the same as shoppers find in-stores.

Retailers intrigued by the prospect of drone deliveries should be concerned by new data that shows a disturbingly high number of close calls with commercial aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration released data showing the number of incidents in which drones flew too close to a commercial aircraft increased to 1,200 last year from 236 incidents in 2014, the first year FAA began tracking the data.

A major experiment is set to begin soon on the campus of the University of Arkansas that could determine how retailers use robots, also known as autonomous terrestrial drones, to make deliveries.

Beginning April 1, London-based Starship Technologies will be turning heads on the rolling hills of the University of Arkansas campus as an important experiment gets underway to gauge human interaction with autonomous land-based vehicles.

Social retailing is nothing new, but more retailers are starting to experiment with launching their own proprietary social media offerings.

The Container Store is teaming up with Goodwill on a new spring cleaning campaign with a philanthropic angle.

From now through May 15, The Container Store is encouraging customers to declutter and donate via two item donation weekend events at the retailer's locations nationwide, as well as a monetary donation initiative in partnership with Goodwill through the end of the campaign.