News

Specialty golf retailer fulfills customer expectations
Golf is a sport that rewards precision, and that extends to meeting customer demand across multiple channels.

That is why Atlanta-based, 25-store PGA Tour Superstore is leveraging the SPS Commerce Fulfillment platform to obtain actionable insights into back-end data that is crucial to support a seamless customer experience. This includes inventory levels, order status, shipment details, and payment and returns.
Breakout Retailer Awards
Five dynamic retail and restaurant brands — Altar’d State, Bentley’s Pet Stuff, MOD Pizza, Sugarfina and Warby Parker — took home the honors as the winners of Chain Store Age’s annual Breakout Retailer Awards.
The awards, selected by CSA’s editorial board and sponsored by Paint Folks, recognize innovative retail and restaurant concepts that are on their way up —brands that have crossed the “newbie” line, and are well positioned for growth, in store, online, or both.

How Robots are Transforming Retail

The retail industry has reached a point of progress with robotics where it is not enough to look at how robots will drive business transformation, but at how they are already doing so.

Following are three key retail areas where robots have already begun to make their presence felt:

Fulfillment and Distribution
Tech Bytes: How Robots are Transforming Retail

The retail industry has reached a point of progress with robotics where it is not enough to look at how robots will drive business transformation, but at how they are already doing so.

Following are three key retail areas where robots have already begun to make their presence felt:

Fulfillment and Distribution
Batteries Crucial to Retail Ops

Don’t overlook the impact that batteries have on retail operations and the bottom line. That’s the advice of IPT’s Ken Murphy, who told Chain Store Age that most retailers don’t realize how much money they spend — and productivity they lose — by constantly having to replace dying batteries in wireless barcode scanners. The problem, he says, is the continued use of subpar OEM batteries.

What is the biggest challenge retailers face regarding the batteries in barcode scanners and other devices?
Starbucks opens store with job training site in Ferguson, Missouri

Starbucks has opened a store in Ferguson, Missouri, a city that was rocked by racial unrest in 2014, as part of its ongoing initiative to open stores in at least 15 lower-income U.S. communities by 2018.

The opening follows the launch of a similar store in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York, in March. Both are part of a national plan to provide local jobs, create training opportunities for youth, and support efforts to rebuild and revitalize communities.
TJX makes moves with new store growth concept

Sierra Trading Post, an online retailer TJX Cos. acquired in 2012, is accelerating store expansion and could become a new growth driver for the nation’s leading off price retailer with designs on extending its value proposition to the outdoor and active lifestyle world.
Butler Town Center

Everyone in the Gainesville, Florida, area knows Butler Plaza, the open-air retail center at Archer Road and SW 34th Street. Currently home to more than 1 million sq. ft. of retail and restaurants, it’s where north central Florida residents, 100,000 daytime employees and 75,000 students at the University of Florida and other colleges have filled their basic needs and wants for decades.
New underground retail center rolls out smart media platform

Fully interactive, cloud-based digital displays help enhance the customer experience and give businesses a boost at TurnStyle, the new retail/dining center at the Columbus Circle subway station in Manhattan.

The installation marks the first retail application of the On Smart Media platform, from Outfront Media. The platform allows retailers and advertising partners to deliver contextual messages in real-time.
Six Months After EMV: Still Putting the Pieces Together

April marked the six-month anniversary of the EMV liability shift. After years of discussion and anticipation, that changeover has technically “happened,” but unfortunately, not much good has happened as a result. Even with all the preparation and hype, the payments industry is still playing catch up. Why? Well, it’s a complex picture that requires a bit of history.