News

Tech Guest Viewpoint: Personalizing Customer Interactions
By John M. Pierre, Linguastat The single greatest challenge that retailers face today is to have an individualized “conversation” with each customer and to do so on a global scale. Consumers expect a similar personalized experience regardless of channel, from the marketing offers they receive to the products that appear in search results.
McCormick names seasoned exec to finance role
Mike Smith was named SVP finance and CFO North America at McCormick. In this role he will oversee investor relations, treasury and serve as the CFO of the newly formed North American Leadership Team.

Smith’s new team focuses on North American alignment and strategy for growth, performance and people. Joyce Brooks, VP, investor relations and Bob Conrad, VP treasurer will report directly to Smith.

More than 50 retailers, QSRs, hospitality firms select Reflexis

Dedham, Mass. -- Reflexis Systems Inc. announced that more than 50 retailers/brands, quick serve restaurants (QSR), and hospitality companies have selected real-time execution, workforce management, and advanced analytics solutions from Reflexis to date in 2014.
Healthy eating is in at H-E-B

In its commitment to helping customers create healthier habits and fight obesity and diabetes, H-E-B on Thursday partnered with the American Diabetes Association to announce the launch of H-E-B Nutrition Services.

Registered dietitians and nutritionists will be in select stores throughout Texas providing affordable nutrition education and care, including private one-on-one consultations, grocery shopping tours, cooking demonstrations, group health classes, kids cooking classes, “lunch and learn” sessions and disease management classes.
Discontinued operations boost Bebe Q1 net loss

Brisbane, Calif. –- Net loss at Bebe Stores Inc. increased to $10.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, up from $7.9 million the same period the prior fiscal year. Loss from discontinued operations boosted total net loss. Net sales from continuing operations were $102.2 million, a decrease of 6.5% from $109.3 million, primarily as a result of store closures. Same-store sales grew 0.7%, the first quarterly same-store sales increased reported by Bebe since fiscal 2012.
Toys ‘R Us details holiday omnichannel moves; to open 5 p.m. Thanksgiving

Wayne, N.J. – Toys ‘R Us Inc. on Friday announced an array of holiday marketing initiatives along with the news that its stores will open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day Thursday, Nov. 27, the same time as 2013, and will remain open through 11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, offering doorbusters and deals.
Beauty site connects commerce and cause

New website BeautyKind.us will enable consumers to give back just by making purchases. Whether it’s shopping for makeup, skincare, fragrances, hair or nail products, 5% of the purchase price of every product will be donated to the charity of the consumer's choice. The unique shopping platform “We-Commerce” was created to integrate cause within commerce and bring the beauty community together for the greater good.
RadioShack’s “Weird” holiday ad

New York -- RadioShack has brought on rock parody singer Weird Al Yankovich to star in a holiday ad. Yankovic is appearing in the chain's holiday campaign called "Gift Smart.” In the spot, he sings his own unique take on the holiday song “Toyland.”
Petco’s holiday appeal includes digital element

Cute cat videos and funny dog tricks are everywhere on the Internet so it only stands to reason that Petco would unleash customers’ creativity with an Instagram contest as part of a larger holiday initiative.

Petco is encouraging shoppers to enter its holiday photo contest from Nov. 23 to Dec. 18 by submitting photos of their pets showing holiday spirit by following @petco and posting photos with #JoyLovePetsContest on Instagram. A winner will be selected every Friday and will receive a $1,000 Petco gift card.
Home Depot hackers got 53 million email addresses

Atlanta –- In addition to obtaining data from 56 million payment cards between April and Sept. 2014, hackers who infiltrated the network of The Home Depot Inc. also obtained the email addresses of 53 million customers. In a statement on its website, the retailer said the files containing the email addresses, which were separate from the payment card files, did not contain passwords or other sensitive information, but customers should still be on guard against phishing scams.