News

Specialty sporting goods retailer wages war on poor IT performance
Goruck, a specialty digital retailer of military-grade sporting and outdoor goods, was founded by a former Green Beret and doesn’t have “quit” in its vocabulary.
Grocery delivery app taps major chain veteran to develop business
Starbucks knows a thing or two about developing business across channels, and on-demand, app-based grocery delivery service Shipt is bringing that expertise in-house.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt has named Joe Manning, former Starbucks director of business and channel development, to lead business development. Shipt is looking to Manning to establish and grow partnerships with grocers and CPG companies as the company expands.

Study: Millenials driving revolution in in-store shopping experiences

Brick-and-mortar retailers are on notice – shifting customer demographics will require far-reaching redesign of the physical store by 2025.

According to a new study from technology market intelligence firm ABI Research, millennials are driving a revolution in how stores use technology to provide a shopping experience.
Schnucks remodels three Missouri locations

Three Schnucks St. Charles County stores will unveil freshly remodeled interiors prior to the Easter holiday this weekend, the company announced Tuesday. Upon entering, customers will notice improved lighting, clean lines and new décor.
Five Below to become newest member of $1 billion club

Five Below is accelerating new store growth again this year and has shared a long-range profit forecast indicating that the value-oriented teen and tween retailer expects accelerating growth to be a recurring theme.

A net increase of 71 new stores last year – on top of 62 units the prior year – enabled Five Below to increase sales 23.7% to $326.4 million in the fourth quarter and 22.3% to $832 million during the fiscal year ended Jan. 30. Also contributing to the top line growth was a fourth quarter same store sales increase of 3.6% and a full year increase of 3.4%.
Target gets one step closer to accelerator launch

Target Corp. has reached an important milestone in its journey to launching a new retail accelerator in partnership with Boulder, Colorado-based start-up accelerator Techstars.

Target initially announced the new accelerator, expected to launch in June 2016, last October. The retailer has now closed the application process, after receiving applications from more than 500 technology start-ups in 45 countries and 32 states. Ideas submitted include connected toys and virtual fitting rooms.
Advance Auto Parts exec rejoins JLL

Companies of all sizes, and increasingly retailers, are implementing integrated portfolio management solutions to make smarter real estate decisions and solve their business challenges.

To better support retailers with their real estate portfolios, JLL announced that it has welcomed back Geno Coradini to the firm as executive VP, retail integrated portfolio services lead. He will be responsible for working with our retail tenant representative brokers nationally to support JLL’s retailer client base.
Starbucks, Target, Westfield Corp. and others team up to boost voter turnout

Democracy Works, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, said on Wednesday it is teaming up with an array of companies, including Starbucks, Target and Westfield Corp., in an effort to boost U.S. voter turnout to 80% by 2020.

The project, called the TurboVote Challenge, is ambitious. The last time the U.S. achieved a voter turnout rate over 80% was in 1888. An estimated 57.5% of eligible citizens voted in the 2012 presidential election.
Five Below ramping up store growth

Five Below is accelerating new store growth again this year.

The tween and teen retailer shared a long-range profit forecast which indicates it expects accelerating growth to be a recurring theme. It plans to open 85 new stores this year, adding to its base of 437 units.
Shopify swims in new channels

E-commerce platform Shopify wants to help retailers engage customers, regardless of location or platform.

Having already launched integrations with major social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, Shopify is branching out in a big way. The company is allowing developers to build new connections it calls “sales channels,” which can include links to apps, platforms and digital marketplaces.