News

Boston – Drizly, a technology company powering beer, wine and liquor delivery for consumers across the U.S., has launched Drizly.com, its new e-commerce website. Drizly.com serves as an extension of the Drizly smartphone apps for iPhone and Android, which allow consumers to have beer, wine and liquor delivered in 20-40 minutes, using a network of retail delivery partners.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company and HBO will host a free, all-star concert to honor the nations veterans and their families on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to be presented live on HBO on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The line-up of performers scheduled to appear at The Concert for Valor include Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jamie Foxx, Dave Grohl, Metallica, John Oliver, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood and Zac Brown Band, as well as special appearances by Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, among others.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holdings Corp. is selling most of its 51% stake in its Sears Canada division to shareholders as its looks to boost its liquidity before the crucial holiday selling season. Sears, which previously said it was exploring options for the struggling Sears Canada unit and retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch in May 2014, expects to raise as much as $380 million by November 2014. 

Groupon has unveiled a free app that pays people cash for buying featured grocery and consumer-packaged goods items each week at any supermarket or retailer in the United States and Canada called Snap.

Android and iPhone users can now earn money when they buy an item listed in the app and take a picture of their receipt. To mark Snap’s debut, people who download the app and use it to submit any grocery receipt through Nov. 11 can enter a sweepstakes to win a year of free groceries for an entire family, a value of $13,000.

Camp Hill, Pa. - For the four weeks ended Sept. 27, 2014, same store sales increased 5.1% from the prior-year period at Rite Aid Corp. September front-end same store sales increased 2.3%, while pharmacy same-store sales increased 6.3% and same-store prescription count grew 4.4%.

Total drugstore sales for the four-week period increased 4.5% to $2.02 billion, compared to $1.935 billion.

Home Depot is extending its e-commerce capabilities westward with the opening of a dedicated online fulfillment center in California.

Located in Perris, California, the 858,953-sq.-ft. facility will initially employ approximately 150 people, and eventually employ up to 300. It is one of three new DFCs opening across the US in addition to the company’s existing network.

The Locust Grove DFC opened outside of Atlanta, Georgia in February and the Ohio DFC is scheduled to open next year.

Denver - Location marketing provider Placeable is predicting that online sales will grow by more than 15% during the 2014 holiday season, compared to the same period the prior year, more than tripling the anticipated 4%-5% growth rate for overall holiday sales. However, Placeable expects more than 90% of holiday sales to take place in brick-and-mortar stores, with 58% of consumers shopping at a national retailer they normally don’t visit.

Other Placeable predictions for the 2014 holiday season include:

As part of its agenda to boost liquidity ahead of the highly contested holiday shopping season, Sears Holdings plans to sell most of its 51% stake in its struggling Sears Canada division to shareholders — a move that stands to raise as much as $380 million by November.