News

Retailers gain RetailMeNot mobile powers
Retailers have a new way to drive sales thanks to a mobile-friendly upgrade to RetailMeNot’s popular app.

RetailMeNot, operator of the nation’s largest digital offers marketplace with more than 18 million unique monthly users, introduced the first version of a new “products” section on its app that features popular items.

The new product functionality offers a deep link to retailers’ mobile optimized sites, providing a way to help retailers market specific products in addition to the other promotional capabilities offered by RetailMeNot.
PetSmart launches cat selfie campaign
PetSmart is enlisting the help of a cat-loving celebrity to launch a new kind of social media campaign.

The retailer has teamed up with actress Mayim Bialik to celebrate cat ownership and encourage cat adoption. Mayim, a longtime cat lover who is very passionate about adoption, has an adopted cat named Frances, a once feral cat that was deserving of a forever home.

Food Lion debuts redesigned website

Food Lion has launched a new web site designed to make shopping, saving and planning for dinner easy for shoppers.
Survey: Retail stores still very relevant

Brick-and-mortar stores are still relevant, with 87% of consumers planning to shop physical retail at least as often as they did in 2014, according to a study by TimeTrade Systems.
NRF: Father’s Day spending to approach $13B

A new NRF survey reports that Father's Day spending this year is expected to reach $12.7 billion.
A furniture retailer embraces mobile future

American Signature is expanding an in-store tablet technology initiate running on the CloudTags platform after a pilot program yielded impressive results.

American Signature, operator of 124 stores, is using the CloudTags technology solution to allow customers to seamlessly shop online and in-store. Customers are offered a CloudTags-enabled tablet upon entering the store and tap on special product tags placed on each piece of furniture throughout the showroom.
Report: Recipes to become 'shoppable'

It's going to be a lot easier for consumers to make meals from recipes thanks to a new partnership between food magazines and Popcart.

Bon Appetit and Epicurious have teamed up with Popcart to make recipes "shoppable," according to Ada Age. No longer will consumers have to read a recipe and make a shopping list and head to the store.
Apple Pay adds select retail credit cards, rewards programs

Cupertino, Calif. – Apple Inc. is enacting a number of significant enhancements to its Apple Pay mobile payment app, including adding support for rewards programs and store-issued credit and debit cards. During a June 8 keynote address at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, said that retailers, including Dunkin' Donuts, Walgreens, Wegmans, and Kohl's, will support the new reward card functionality.
GE Capital: Mid-market retailers sound positive note

New York -- Just under half of retail firms expect industry expansion, and over two-thirds will consider seeking additional financing in the coming year. And 45% believe the sector will expand in the year ahead. That’s according to a survey by GE Capital of C-suite executives at middle market companies (ranging from $10 million to less than $1 billion in sales).

Performance in the middle-market retail sector was positive over the past year, the survey found, with 75% of firms reporting improved year-over-year financial performance.
How Target can beat Amazon

New York -- Target Corp. will beat Amazon.com by following three core philosophies, the retailer’s top digital executive (and former Amazon.com exec) Jason Goldberger said during a keynote address at the annual Internet Retailer Conference and Exposition, in Chicago.
Chinese Laundry’s omnichannel integration

New York -- Following an e-commerce upgrade, women’s shoe retailer Chinese Laundry is now going to change its e-commerce site to responsive design in the coming months an effort to increase its mobile conversion rate, Scott Cohn, VP president of e-commerce, said during a session at the annual Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago.
What to Do When Activists Attack

Today, CEOs and corporate board members of retail chains must run simply to stand still. Executives of publicly traded retailers face intensive pressure from activist investors to quickly and decisively increase shareholder value. Activists are known to secretly accumulate a significant stake in a company and without notice blind side the CEO with risky restructuring plans, force firms into unwanted mergers to removing board members and CEOs that disagree with their speculative strategy.