News

Baltimore - Under Armour has opened its first-ever digital headquarters, in downtown Austin, Texas. The 35,000-plus-sq.-ft. “Connected Fitness” center employs more than 100 engineers, data scientists, designers, and product innovators in digital health, fitness, and sports, and is expected to grow substantially by the end of the year. It is the sporting goods company’s facility solely dedicated to digital innovation.

Shoppers interested in purchasing products from women-owned companies will find it easier to do so at Walmart with the introduction of a new logo and related promotional effort.

Dallas, Oregon – Pressed Coffee & Wine Bar and Taters Café is wirelessly syncing its stores’ iPad POS teminals with Serverless Sync, a new functionality from cloud-based tablet POS vendor ShopKeep. Serverless Sync allows merchants to open and close checks from multiple registers, with orders seamlessly updated across all devices in real-time with or without an internet connection.

CVS Health is making a series of organizational changes to further drive enterprise alignment and fuel its growth strategy.

The changes include:

Portland -- Sephora has achieved an eight-times faster growth rate with its digital gifting revenue since deploying a prepaid commerce solution from CashStar. The beauty retailer has also seen a 51% redemption rate within the first month of activation, and a 30% higher initial purchase value compared to plastic gift cards, since implementing CashStar Commerce.

Online consignment marketplace Swap.com is expanding into women’s clothing, shoes and accessories.

Executives with Swap.com said the new women’s collection will launch with more than 25,000 items.

“The expansion into women’s apparel is not just about making it easier for our customers to buy and sell their gently loved clothes and handbags,” said Jesse Gonzalez, merchandising manager at Swap.com. “It’s also about offering the fashionable looks that our customers love, at a better deal than you can find in-stores.”

By Hayden Shipp, IBISWorld

Shippers, carriers, longshoremen, businesses and consumers alike can breathe a sigh of relief in light of the tentative deal the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) reached on Feb. 20.

Bordeaux, France - Bébé 9, a subsidiary of the France Maternité group, has selected Raymark's end-to-end suite of retail enterprise solutions for deployment in its 140 stores. Specifically, Bébé 9 is rolling out Raymark as its partner for an omnichannel technology overhaul aimed at centralizing operations, improving efficiency and cultivating customer relationships across e-commerce, social media and other channels.