News

Product of the Year winners revealed and celebrated
Twenty-nine new products were recognized as “Product of the Year,” at a gala event in New York recently, but earning that distinction comes at a hefty price and leveraging it as part of a marketing effort costs even more.
IHL: Do retailers have their heads in the clouds?
When it comes to systems infrastructure, retailers are moving in a particular direction.

According to a new study from IHL Group, “Total Retail SaaS Market,” 26% of all retail spending on software in 2016 in North America will be cloud-based. This includes 60% of retailers’ e-commerce spend and 53% of their BI/analytics and sales/marketing software spend will be on cloud-based systems.

Visa makes play in mobile payment space

Visa Inc. has disclosed an investment stake that indicates it has a strong interest in helping retailers process mobile transactions.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Visa said it holds 3.5 million shares in payment processing provider Square, equal to a 10% stake. The investment was worth about $30 million as of Thursday, Feb. 11.
First Look: Victoria’s Secret, Las Vegas

Victoria’s Secret has gone big with a remodel in Las Vegas.

Located at Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, the expanded and remodeled store is almost triple its original size, and now totals over 20,000 sq. ft. It’s the chain’s largest space to date in Las Vegas.

In addition to Victoria’s Secret’s complete collections, the flagship features a dedicated space for the company’s Pink brand.
Report: Whole Foods mulls adding tattoo parlors

Whole Foods shoppers looking for organic kale smoothies and non-GMO dog food could soon also get a tattoo while in-store.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb says his company’s new 365 chain is going to try some tactics outside of the conventional grocery-store playbook, including setting up tattoo parlors in the stores.

Read more about the company's plans by clicking here.
PayPal makes digital purchases even easier

PayPal is entering the buy button arena in a big way.

The new PayPal Commerce service, currently running in closed beta, allows retailers to embed buy buttons into any digital format they choose. This includes blogs, emails, online ads, apps, and social shares. PayPal Commerce is based on a set of open application program interfaces (APIs) and also offers a software developer kit (SDK), making it platform-agnostic and fully embeddable.
Divaris’ Washington, D.C. team completes five leases

Washington, D.C. -- Gerald S. Divaris, chairman and CEO of Divaris Real Estate, announced the company negotiated five leases totaling 17,469 sq. ft. of commercial space in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., market.

Wash ‘N Dry - leased 5,792 sq. ft. of retail space at Ashdale Plaza located in Woodbridge, Virginia. Retailers at the center include: Family Dollar, Popeye’s, Wells Fargo, Goodwill and Davita. The landlord, A.R. Kronstadt Realty Investors, was represented by DRE’s Susan McGee.
Nation’s favorite fashion retailer is…

For the fourth consecutive year, a department store has nabbed the top spot in a survey of the nation’s favorite fashion retailers.

Nordstrom took the top spot in the study, by Market Force Information. Interestingly, several discount retailers moved up the list this year, with Marshalls landing in the No. 2 spot. H&M and Ross Dress for Less tied for third, Kohl’s was fourth and Macy’s was fifth.
A read on retail sales
Tech Bytes: Three Reasons to Buy a Pure Play Retailer

I previously wrote a column about the benefits opening physical stores can offer pure play online retailers. Inspired by the recent completion of the Hudson’s Bay-Gilt acquisition, this week I’d like to examine three instant advantages purchasing a pure play retailer can provide to brick-and-mortar chains.

Instant Expertise