News

As kids prepare to head back to school this fall, the Walmart foundation is furthering its commitment to increase access to food and nutrition education for children with a whopping donation.

The retailer is making a $10.5 million donation to four national nonprofits implementing school meals programs.

San Jose, Calif. – We live in an age where commitments seem to mean less and less, but consumers notably bucked that trend with their shopping habits in July 2015.

According to an analysis of July 2015 U.S. retail sales by store analytics provider RetailNext, sales per shopper rose 4.7% year-over-year, showing increased shopper commitment.

New York -- The founder of the now defunct same-day delivery service Webvan is back — this time with a robot-powered would-be competitor to Amazon Prime, reports ReCode.  

Louis Borders is developing a $99 shopping club that plans to offer same-day delivery of groceries and other merchandise from participating retailers. But it’s the back-end of the operation that is so interesting.

New York -- Sycamore Partners is rocking.

New York -- Some of the most creative retailers in marketing were recognized by Experian Marketing Services in its inaugural #SuiteLife Awards.

Among the recipients of the #SuiteLife Awards, a play on Experian’s suite of marketing solutions, were American Eagle Outfitters, Neiman Marcus, Bass Pro Shops, Finish Line and Foot Locker. The awards were presented at Experian’s recently held marketing summit attended by more than 1,000 people in Las Vegas.

New York -- A fast-growing start-up wants to help retailers and other brands market their goods on Instagram.

Olapic, a visual marketing content engine that helps turn consumer-generated photos and videos into brand assets, will be helping to integrate the recently announced Instagram Ads API for brands and retailers to start rolling out campaigns inside the app.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. announced its Waterside mixed-use development, located in Fort Worth, Texas, will be the first ground-up project developed as part of Trademark’s Conscious Place initiative; a stakeholder-driven development model that aims to ensure that its properties are more than just places of commerce, but also places of community and meaning.

A complete revamp has put a new focus on freshness and customer engagement at Strack & Van Til.

Focusing on whole organics, natural foods, and gluten-free products, the 56,458-sq.-ft store is set up to offer the value of a farmers market in the environment of a large space. Customers can even have their fresh purchased seafood grilled for them on-site.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop retains its come-back momentum.

By limiting growth of costs and expenses and improving sales, Build-A-Bear Workshop reduced its net loss to better-than-expected $628,000 in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 from $4.3 million the same period a year earlier.

Bellevue, Wash. – Thrift shop customers appreciate the deep savings, but most of them do not shop out of necessity.

According to a new survey of 1,001 U.S. adults from the Savers thrift shop chain, 76% of Americans are choosing thrift with the top two reasons being that it’s cost-effective and feels like a treasure hunt. The new data about Americans’ shopping behaviors also highlights:  

• 77% agree that it’s important that they get a good deal or value on the items they buy.