News

Facebook expands Place Tips, adds free beacons
Menlo Park, Calif. – Facebook is expanding the availability of its Place Tips in-store mobile promotion service, and also expanding Place Tips’ reach with free Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Facebook initially launched a trial of Place Tips in January 2015 and is now rolling it out nationwide.
Burlington boosts profit; will open 25 stores
Burlington, N.J. – Aided by reductions in areas such as interest expense, debt extinguishment and stock option modification, Burlington Stores Inc. more than doubled its net income to $25.69 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from $11.77 million the same period a year earlier. The company plans to open 25 stores during fiscal 2015.

Report: Recipes to become 'shoppable'

It's going to be a lot easier for consumers to make meals from recipes thanks to a new partnership between food magazines and Popcart.

Bon Appetit and Epicurious have teamed up with Popcart to make recipes "shoppable," according to Ada Age. No longer will consumers have to read a recipe and make a shopping list and head to the store.
Survey: Retail stores still very relevant

Brick-and-mortar stores are still relevant, with 87% of consumers planning to shop physical retail at least as often as they did in 2014, according to a study by TimeTrade Systems.
Retailers gain RetailMeNot mobile powers

Retailers have a new way to drive sales thanks to a mobile-friendly upgrade to RetailMeNot’s popular app.

RetailMeNot, operator of the nation’s largest digital offers marketplace with more than 18 million unique monthly users, introduced the first version of a new “products” section on its app that features popular items.

The new product functionality offers a deep link to retailers’ mobile optimized sites, providing a way to help retailers market specific products in addition to the other promotional capabilities offered by RetailMeNot.
Sears loss narrows but sales fall 25%; prepares for launch of $2.6 billion REIT

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – A reduction in selling, general and administrative expenses helped Sears Holdings Corp. reduce its first quarter net loss even as its sales continued to slide. The results came in as the chain prepares for the launch of its real-estate investment trust this week to raise cash. Sears said it expects the REIT transaction to raise $2.6 billion.
Sears Holdings says transformation on track

The retail industry is accustomed to weak same store sales at Sears and Kmart, but the magnitude of the decline the company experienced in the first quarter was large even by its standards.
Olive Garden gets social with breadsticks

Orlando, Fla. – “Breaking bread” is the tradition of mixing socialization with eating, and Olive Garden is taking the concept to a new, virtual level. To promote its new breadstick sandwiches, Olive Garden is launching the “Breadsticks Nation” sweepstakes, powered by social engagement technology from HelloWorld.
NRF: Father’s Day spending to approach $13B

A new NRF survey reports that Father's Day spending this year is expected to reach $12.7 billion.
PetSmart launches cat selfie campaign

PetSmart is enlisting the help of a cat-loving celebrity to launch a new kind of social media campaign.

The retailer has teamed up with actress Mayim Bialik to celebrate cat ownership and encourage cat adoption. Mayim, a longtime cat lover who is very passionate about adoption, has an adopted cat named Frances, a once feral cat that was deserving of a forever home.