News

Leading brands are retailers were recognized for their effectiveness in marketing communications Tuesday night in Chicago when the fourth annual North American Shopper Marketing Effie Awards were held at the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Summit.

Julie Eddleman, Erik Keptner and Andy Murray are the newest inductees into the Path to Purchase Institute’s Hall of Fame which recognizes industry leaders for their contributions to the field of shopper marketing.

Eddleman, marketing director of North American brands at Procter & Gamble, Keptner, EVP of marketing at Ahold, and Murrary, SVP of creative at Walmart were recognized at a gala event held in conjunction with the Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Summit in Chicago.

Academy Sports + Outdoors has renewed its multi-year partnership with the Atlanta Braves. The specialty retailer also plans to open two new stores in Cartersville, Ga., April 11 and Douglasville, Ga., May 2.

"We're thrilled about our continued expansion in the Atlanta metro area," said SVP of marketing Anita Sehgal. "Our partnership with the Braves and the two additional stores are clear indicators of Academy's commitment to our ongoing growth in the Atlanta community, Braves fans, and active-minded families throughout Georgia."

Maurices is marking a major milestone. The retailer, which started small in downtown Duluth, Minn., has opened its 900th store in Fresno, Calif.

And the retailer is not stopping there. Plans are in place to open 60 additional stores for a total of more than 925 stores in 46 states and Canada by July. Maurices is also remodeling or expanding 80 stores this year to keep the chain fresh.

The company's long-term goal is to reach more than 1,200 stores domestically and 100 stores in Canada.

Francesca’s sales results for the fourth quarter were below its revised guidance, thanks in part to extreme weather conditions, which forced the company to fully or partially close 370 boutiques during January.

Improved demand for cabinetry propelled Norcraft Companies to a fourth-quarter sales increase of 13%.

The maker of kitchen and bathroom cabinetry in the United States and Canada completed its initial public offering in the fourth quarter, in which sales reached $80.5 million.

Modell's Sporting Goods is replacing its paper-driven employee-selection process with Infor PeopleAnswers Talent Science — a tool designed to improve that process as well as development and succession planning for its chain of more than 150 stores throughout the Northeast.

According to Infor, Infor PeopleAnswers Talent Science is available via the cloud and uses science, technology and analytics to predictively link behavioral data to real business outcomes, helping companies improve business performance, reduce turnover and optimize the HR process.

Merchant Warehouse, a leading provider of payment technologies, has acquired Opticard, a provider of gift and loyalty programs for organizations worldwide.

Through this acquisition, Merchant Warehouse will offer deeper mobile and digital engagement opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses through an expanded suite of gift, loyalty and prepaid programs.

With Apple’s introduction of Airdrop and iBeacon, shopping mall owners, retailers and brands have turned to Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) and the newest class of location-based mobile advertising opportunities enabled by the technology. As a leading company invested in delivering mobile ubiquity by integrating Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and QR, Mobiquity Technologies has release of its partner software development kit (SDK) designed to allow retailers and brands to leverage Mobiquity Networks’ Bluetooth LE Beacon network.

Compare Metrics, a leading provider of adaptive commerce navigation and discovery tools, appointed Mike Sherman as chief technology officer.