News

Charlotte Russe is taking steps to blend its online and offline experiences.    The young women’s apparel specialty chain recently added a mobile commerce platform from PredictSpring designed to deliver a next-generation app to its customers. The app delivers the three key elements most demanded by Charlotte Russe’s customer: speed, flexibility, and a smooth blend of the online and offline brand experience.  

Destination XL Group is slowing store growth to invest in e-commerce and enhanced marketing that includes a return to television advertising.   The retailer of big and tall men’s clothing on Monday reported better-than-expected net income of $1.8 million for the quarter, after reporting a loss of $1.4 million in the year-ago period.   Total sales for the quarter were reported as $122.6 million, down slightly from $124.0 million in the prior-year quarter. Same-store sales fell 2.4%.  

Determined to fight back against online rival Amazon, eBay made a strategic move in the competitive online delivery game.   Beginning this summer, the e-commerce retailer will launch a new program, called “Guaranteed Delivery,” that will offer U.S. shoppers guaranteed delivery on 20 million eligible products in three days or less — with millions of the items offering free shipping.   In addition, shoppers will also be able to search for and filter items by one- and two day delivery.

Bankrupt Hhgregg Inc.’s proposed purchase by an anonymous buyer has collapsed.   

Time-starved shoppers expect their favorite grocers to have the staples they need when they enter the store — and supermarkets are hard-pressed to deliver.  

Bolstered by positive consumer indicators, retail CFOs are largely optimistic for 2017. But competition and consolidation could cloud their outlook.    That’s according to BDO USA’s 11th annual Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, in which respondents predict a 4.9% bump in total sales this year, up from 3.4% in 2016. The bullish predictions are echoed by online sales projections, with a 10.7% increase expected for the year ahead — the highest in survey history.   

As it prepares to enter “a high-growth period” for its online business, Solstice Sunglasses needed a solution that could support this endeavor and future expansion plans.   Solstice, a retailer with 105 store locations throughout the U.S,  strives to offer the same level of service to both online and in-store customers looking for luxury, designer and sport sunglasses. To achieve this goal, the company selected the ncommerce platform, an end-to-end digital commerce platform from Newgistics.  

Delhaize America is always striving to reduce inventory levels, yet still maintain fresh perishables as they move between its distribution centers and stores.   Besides being a challenge, managing fresh and short-shelf-life products is called one of the toughest tasks related to retail planning. Delhaize hopes to ease this struggle with a new supply chain solution from Relex that will forecast and replenish perishable categories within its distribution centers.  

An official from the town of North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is looking forward to more jobs and tourist income from the expansion of a shopping center in the beach resort area.   RealtyLink, a developer of power centers in the Southeast and Midwest, is about halfway done with its phase three expansion of the Coastal North Town Center & Village Shoppes on Highway 17. The 147,000-sq.-ft. addition will take the center size beyond 540,000 sq. ft.  

Starbucks has debuted its in-store Reserve coffee bar concept in downtown Seattle.      The new store combines the educational aspects of the company’s Reserve Roastery format and its rare small-lot Reserve coffees within a traditional Starbucks setting, complete with such regular coffee and Frappuccinos.    It’s estimated that Starbucks locations with the Reserve bar will make up 20% of the company’s global store portfolio over time.