News

The number of Amazon Prime members are on the rise.   An estimated 60% of Amazon customers are Prime members, a group that is comprised of roughly 80 million members in the United States, according to research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). The study is based on responses from 500 U.S. shoppers who made a purchase at Amazon.com between January and March.  

One does not live by bargains alone, and the latest outlet center to realize that and pick up its food and beverage game is The Outlets at Legends in Sparks, Nevada.   RED Development announced that six new restaurants are slated to open at the center, including The Habit Burger Grill, Jersey Mike’s Subs, and Chick-Fil-A. A 75,000-sq.-ft. retail space expansion is also underway, led by a 40,000-sq.-ft. Burlington Coat Factory outlet with a planned opening in spring of 2018.  

Title Nine is dedicated to creating a community among its shoppers — and now its e-commerce site supports this endeavor.  

Rite Aid managed to best analyst forecasts for the fourth quarter even as its chairman and CEO noted that "the extended duration of the merger process" with Walgreens Boots Alliance is "having a negative impact" on the company's results.    Rite Aid’s revenue rose a better-than-expected 2.7% to $8.5 billion in the quarter. Same-store sales fell 3.0%, consisting of a 4.3% decrease in pharmacy sales and a 0.3% decrease in front-end sales.  

A home improvement start-up with a green conscience is expanding out of its Austin, Texas, hometown.    TreeHouse will open the nation’s first-ever net-zero energy store on June 1, at The Hill, a shopping center in Dallas. The store will be the retailer’s second location, but not for long. An additional store, planned for the Plano area, is due to open this fall.   

Ethically sourced bridal and fine jewelry retailer Brilliant Earth is expanding its brick-and-mortar footprint.    The company has just opened a location in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. The showroom utilizes an appointment model designed to provide a high-touch, personalized experience for every customer.  

Macy’s is getting more serious about its off-price format, Macy’s Backstage.   The department store giant plans to add 30 Backstage shops to existing Macy’s stores this year, reported CNBC. The format debuted in 2015, originally as a freestanding store.   

A convenience store giant has a solution that it hopes will solve a labor shortage — and simultaneously speed up checkout.   7-Eleven Japan is teaming up with four other major convenience store operators in the country to introduce radio frequency identification (RFID)-based point-of-sale solutions — a move that will automate the checkout experience and fight an employee shortage, according to Bloomberg.  

The founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements has bought back equity ownership of the company.    Tariq Farid announced Monday that he has completed a buyback of equity of the company, which had been held by private equity firm L Catterton, Greenwich, Connecticut. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.  

Digital shoppers enthusiasm for buying beauty products online doesn’t translate into retailer loyalty.    While online sellers of beauty and personal care products continue to capture more market share, online shopper loyalty seems to be elusive, according to report by A.T. Kearney.