News

Minneapolis – Best Buy Co Inc. has added service from the Curbside mobile shopping app to several stores in the Bay Area, including San Francisco and San Jose. Curbside enables consumers to purchase items from local retailers and then pick them up outside of local stores with deliveries directly to their cars.

Leading regional supermarket operator Hy-Vee is expanding its relationship with Interactions to provide experiential marketing services.

Interactions says it will engage shoppers through experiential marketing events in 50 store locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri, with plans to expand to more than 145 stores throughout the year. In addition to planned event services, Interactions will also collaborate with Hy-Vee to develop additional experiential marketing activities, such as new store openings, community events and Hy-Vee branded programs.

Boston – Nearly 300% more retailers plan to use mobile POS in the next two years, according to a special report by Boston Retail Partners (BRP).

Raleigh, N.C. – Specialty fashion retailer Vestique recognizes the importance of the POS as a platform for omnichannel retailing. That is why Vestique chose the Springboard Retail POS platform as a foundation for aligning multi-store inventory, training employees and improving customer engagement as the company expands across the Southeastern U.S.

Alba, Italy - The Miroglio Group, an Italy-based international fashion retailer, has selected Zebra Technologies' wireless LAN solution to optimize information processes and transform them into a single omnichannel workflow. This selection was done as part of an overhaul plan that involved all the Italian companies in the Group: four buildings at its headquarters in Alba, its Milan offices and the entire store channel.

Grapevine, Texas – Private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners has purchased specialty restaurant chain Cotton Patch Café, which operates 45 locations in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Kathy Nelson, CEO of Cotton Patch, participated in the investment and will continue in her role.

Altamont Capital also holds major investments in franchisees of the Taco Bell and Sonic Drive-In fast-food chains. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Retailers who sell Nestle candy may soon be hearing a lot from their customers about changes in the taste or color of their favorite confections.

That’s because Nestlé has pledged to remove all artificial flavors and colors from its chocolate and sweets in the United States.

Chicago – Customer reviews are now an expectation, not an option, for e-commerce sites. According to a study analyzing the impact of user-generated content on consumer purchase behavior from ratings and reviews provider PowerReviews, consumers will abandon a site if it doesn’t provide the information they need.