News

On Target
Demand forecasting helps Curacao react to cultural shifts
Any good retailer gets to know its customers, and not just their product preferences but also who they are, where they come from and what they aspire to. This type of intimate knowledge allows retailers to forecast and meet product demand with the highest degree of accuracy.
In the Cloud
Cloud technology opens torrent of customer data for Chico's FAS
Maintaining a wealth of customer data has become a primary directive for retail IT departments. In recent years, retailers have been making substantial investments in solutions that collect and store data relating to their customers' purchases, behaviors, preferences, demographic characteristics and almost any other traits you can think of. But after all this data has been captured, what do you do with it?

Fanatically Focused

ERP solution helps online sports retailer Fanatics respond to customer demand
Retail at its core is a pretty straightforward industry. Regardless of a retailer's vertical, sales channel(s), customer base, or any other distinguishing characteristic, at the end of the day the goal is pretty much the same. Jay Omdahl, VP enterprise resource planning for online sports merchandise retailer Fanatics, sums it up succinctly: "Get the best product at the right time to the right place."
A Brave New World

Price, location and selection fade as real differentiators
Remember when retail gurus used to say that when it came down to it, retail strategy was all about location, location, location? Location still matters, but not as much as it used to. With the explosion of online retail, brick-and-mortar retail strategies are changing. But it's not just location that has receded in importance. Price and selection don't matter as much anymore either.
Clicks & Bricks

Marks & Spencer's new store merges online and physical shopping
Technology is revolutionizing the way consumers shop, both in stores and online. Here is how one retailer is working to bridge both worlds.
British retailer Marks & Spencer is taking a giant leap forward in its goal to becoming a multichannel leader and merging the worlds of physical and online shopping with the opening of its new concept store in Amsterdam.
Peaking at the Right Time

Randy Dewitt
CEO,
Front Burner Restaurants
HEADQUARTERS: Addison, Texas
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Casual-dining (Twin Peaks)
NUMBER OF UNITS: 36 Twin Peaks restaurants in 16 states
Reaching Out

Dramatic growth and purchasing power of U.S. Latino population demands retailer attention
Buy For Less goes mobile

Oklahoma City – Independent regional grocery chain Buy For Less is mobilizing in-store and back-end operations at its 14 stores using XG100 handheld devices from Janam Technologies LLC. The pistol-shaped mobile computers allow employees to perform tasks such as scanning barcodes and communicating wirelessly.

"The Janam XG100 wireless device allows us to leverage newer, better technologies and features that are more user friendly and ultimately provide greater value to our guests," said Jared Black, director of IT at Buy For Less.
DSW affiliate will supply Loehmann’s footwear

Columbus, Ohio - The Affiliated Business Group (ABG), a division of DSW Inc., will exclusively supply the footwear departments of all U.S. Loehmann’s stores and the loehmanns.com e-commerce site. The initial rollout of the news arrangement is expected to commence in a few stores starting December, 013 with the balance of the chain and e-commerce launching in the first quarter of 2014. ABG will plan, procure, and deliver the entire women's and men's footwear inventory, while Loehmann’s will provide staffing for the shoe departments.
Homeland Stores introduces smartphone app

Oklahoma City – Homeland Stores, a regional grocery retailer operating under several banners including Homeland, United, Country Mart, Super Save and Super Plaza, is partnering with mobile payment technology provider DoubleBeam to introduce new iPhone and Android mobile applications that enable customers to pay for purchases via smartphone.
Seven Ways Retailers Can Keep Customers Coming Back

By Sherry Orel, [email protected]

Retail today is supposed to be all about the experience. After all, it’s so easy to shop online. And yet so many retailers could be providing a much richer customer experience if they only made a few simple changes that meet customers needs and expectations.
Brick-and-mortar sales soar in spring

San Jose – Brick-and-mortar retail sales soared during this past spring, according to new metrics from RetailNext. Using its in-store analytics platform to collect metrics on millions of shopping trips to department stores and specialty retailers nationwide, RetailNext studied and released its analysis of traffic, conversion, sales, and average transaction values (ATV) for the spring season, including the four holidays of Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and Father’s Day, as well as the days leading up to Father’s Day and Easter Sunday.