News

Connecting with Millennials
The generation born between the early 1980s and the year 2000 — labeled millennials — has captured the collective attention of retail marketers. And not just because there are more than 80 million of them, although that’s a factor. This group craves access, not necessarily ownership, and they have a real affinity for technology, which is shaping the retail space.
PINTEREST: THE CHOICE OF A NEW GENERATION
User data from Pinterest shows that more than one-in-three of its 100 million global users are millennials. In addition, 79% of millennial Pinterest users say the platform is a “guide to life and is a place to teach me how to do things,” compared with 71% of all Pinterest monthly users.

Other notable millennial-related findings include:

Specialty golf retailer fulfills customer expectations

Golf is a sport that rewards precision, and that extends to meeting customer demand across multiple channels.

That is why Atlanta-based, 25-store PGA Tour Superstore is leveraging the SPS Commerce Fulfillment platform to obtain actionable insights into back-end data that is crucial to support a seamless customer experience. This includes inventory levels, order status, shipment details, and payment and returns.
Breakout Retailer Awards

Five dynamic retail and restaurant brands — Altar’d State, Bentley’s Pet Stuff, MOD Pizza, Sugarfina and Warby Parker — took home the honors as the winners of Chain Store Age’s annual Breakout Retailer Awards.
The awards, selected by CSA’s editorial board and sponsored by Paint Folks, recognize innovative retail and restaurant concepts that are on their way up —brands that have crossed the “newbie” line, and are well positioned for growth, in store, online, or both.
How Robots are Transforming Retail

The retail industry has reached a point of progress with robotics where it is not enough to look at how robots will drive business transformation, but at how they are already doing so.

Following are three key retail areas where robots have already begun to make their presence felt:

Fulfillment and Distribution
Tech Bytes: How Robots are Transforming Retail

The retail industry has reached a point of progress with robotics where it is not enough to look at how robots will drive business transformation, but at how they are already doing so.

Following are three key retail areas where robots have already begun to make their presence felt:

Fulfillment and Distribution
Batteries Crucial to Retail Ops

Don’t overlook the impact that batteries have on retail operations and the bottom line. That’s the advice of IPT’s Ken Murphy, who told Chain Store Age that most retailers don’t realize how much money they spend — and productivity they lose — by constantly having to replace dying batteries in wireless barcode scanners. The problem, he says, is the continued use of subpar OEM batteries.

What is the biggest challenge retailers face regarding the batteries in barcode scanners and other devices?
Starbucks opens store with job training site in Ferguson, Missouri

Starbucks has opened a store in Ferguson, Missouri, a city that was rocked by racial unrest in 2014, as part of its ongoing initiative to open stores in at least 15 lower-income U.S. communities by 2018.

The opening follows the launch of a similar store in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York, in March. Both are part of a national plan to provide local jobs, create training opportunities for youth, and support efforts to rebuild and revitalize communities.
TJX makes moves with new store growth concept

Sierra Trading Post, an online retailer TJX Cos. acquired in 2012, is accelerating store expansion and could become a new growth driver for the nation’s leading off price retailer with designs on extending its value proposition to the outdoor and active lifestyle world.
Butler Town Center

Everyone in the Gainesville, Florida, area knows Butler Plaza, the open-air retail center at Archer Road and SW 34th Street. Currently home to more than 1 million sq. ft. of retail and restaurants, it’s where north central Florida residents, 100,000 daytime employees and 75,000 students at the University of Florida and other colleges have filled their basic needs and wants for decades.