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A Moveable (and Personal) Feast
Retailers deliver personalized, seamless mobile experience

In his classic posthumous memoir “A Moveable Feat,” Ernest Hemingway describes 1920s Paris as an interconnected place where you could obtain any food, drink or entertainment you wanted at any time. While the days of glamorous expatriate writers tramping across Europe are long gone, retailers are increasingly trying to recreate the atmosphere of seamless access to whatever your heart desires, via mobile devices and apps.
Walmart aims to collect all supplier content
Walmart is appealing to suppliers – even those who don’t sell it merchandise – to share their complete product catalog with the company in the name of providing shoppers accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive information.

The goal of a new pilot program according to a blog post on Walmartlabs.com written by global head of content acquisition, Ram Rampalli, is to solve a universal problem by delivering exceptional product content.

Pin it — and buy it

San Francisco -- Pinterest on Tuesday officially started its foray into e-commerce.

The social networking giant has started rolling out a “buy it” button on its pins on iPhone and iPad apps. It also is launching new shop categories, including "Shop our picks," a curated selection of seasonal goods, and "Shop" for the latest buyable Pins.
Kohl’s new office price concept now open

Looking for a piece of the growing off-price pie, Kohl's has officially opened its Off Aisle concept in New Jersey.

Kohl’s is testing the off-price waters by opening a discount store in Cherry Hill, N.J., this summer called "Off Aisle by Kohl's."
Cold Stone Creamery gets social with sharks

Scottsdale, Ariz. - Cold Stone Creamery is partnering with the Discovery Channel to promote its “Shark Week 2015” TV programming event through July 14. As part of the promotion, Cold Stone is holding a social media contest where one winner will win a trip for four to the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas.
Pier 1 names industry veteran as CFO

Pier 1 Imports has named a former finance executve of Michaels, Kmart and Sears as its new chief financial officer.
Amazon heads east with cloud computing

Seattle – Amazon.com is heading east with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosted cloud computing platform – all the way to India.

AWS will launch an “infrastructure region” in India in 2016, meaning customers there will have access to locally based hosted cloud services.
Bon-Ton sells six stores in leaseback agreement

York, Pa. - The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. is selling six stores for $84 million to CPA: 17 – Global, a non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) of global net lease REIT W.P. Carey Inc. Bon-Ton will lease the stores back.

Proceeds from the transaction will be used to pay one of two of the company’s mortgage loans due in April 2016. Each loan has about $105 million in principal and consists of 12 properties. Bon-Ton is actively pursuing refinancing options for the second loan.
Peapod debuts 'farm in a box'

As food delivery increases in popularity among U.S. consumers, online grocer Peapod is launching an innovative service focused on produce.

The company is going to start offering the Peapod Local Farm Box. Throughout the summer, Peapod customers in New York City, New Jersey, Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin will have the option of adding a box of produce from local farms to their virtual grocery cart.
NCR: Restaurants say technology impacts revenue

Duluth, Ga. - A majority of restaurant owners and managers believe that technology has a direct impact on increased revenue.

According to the 2015 NCR Restaurant Technology Pulse, 67% of respondents say technology helps drive revenue growth and 35% of restaurants are more dependent on tech tools compared to a year ago.