News

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."

DSW’s division the Affiliated Business Group has entered into a joint agreement with Loehmann’s which renders ABG the sole supplier for Loehmann’s footwear departments in the company’s U.S. locations and e-commerce site.

The initial roll out is expected to begin at a few stores starting December, with the balance of the chain and e-commerce launching in the first quarter 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.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods is launching a digital athletic training platform in partnership with sports training provider IMG Academy. The platform, known as “Day One,” operates across PC, mobile and tablet devices and provides comprehensive training information for fall, winter and spring sports including football, soccer, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, golf and tennis.

Macy's has agreed to pay a $175,000 civil fine for discriminating against immigrant employees when verifying their eligibility to continue working for the company, according to a Reuters report. 

The retailer will have to walk the fine line between ensuring equal opportunity rights to workers while not running afoul of complex immigration laws. To that end, in addition to paying the fine, Macy’s has agreed to improve the manner in which it verifies workers’ eligibility to work legally.

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?

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.

OMAHA, Neb. — Oriental Trading Company, a direct retailer of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, novelties and school supplies owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has acquired brainy toy manufacturer MindWare Holdings.

MindWare is a manufacturer, wholesaler and direct retailer of what it describes as “brainy toys for kids of all ages,” based in Minneapolis, Minn. Oriental Trading Company is headquartered in Omaha, Neb. 

Tapping into the data to increase conversion — and sales

The quickest, surest and most cost-effective way to increase store sales is to improve each store's conversion rate.

It's estimated that more than 50% of North American specialty retailers have installed traffic monitoring/counting systems in some or all of their stores. But many retailers have failed to take advantage of the fact that the data these increasingly sophisticated devices generate can help them improve performance and capitalize on sales.