News

Sheetz, the family-owned and operated convenience store chain, announced it will invest more than $15 million to raise the wages of store employees across the company. And it is doing so without cutting back on hours for full-time employees.

Shoptalk is out to break the mold of what constitutes a retail industry event and the clearest indication of that philosophy is a digital brochure that showcases an expanding roster of speakers and the image of a monkey sitting on a toilet. Seriously.
 

Almost every major brand has experimented with SMS marketing services. Some programs have been wildly fruitful while others were abandoned after only a few months. Having seen both small and large retailers implement successful mobile marketing programs, there is little doubt that SMS can drive customer engagement and increase revenue.

Supervalu wants to unlock the value of its Save-A-Lot division with a planned spinoff, but the 1,336 store division did little to enhance its appeal to investors with a weak showing in the third quarter.

There is a growing disconnect between shoppers’ growing in-store service expectations and retailers’ current service offerings and focus for the coming year.

Vertical specialty apparel retailer Brooks Brothers is known for neat and tidy fashions, and that ethos extends to how it manages the flow of goods from source to shelf.

Brooks Brothers has selected the SAP Fashion Management platform to gain better control of movement of merchandise through the supply chain, which in turn supports an omnichannel customer experience. The retailer began the process of revamping its demand chain by implementing the SAP Apparel and Footwear application, which provides better insight into inventory and financials.

Healthy checklanes free of bad-for-you impulse items are coming to nearly all Aldi stores by year end, and that’s just the beginning of the retailer’s stepped up commitment to offering healthier options at its expanding network of 1,500 stores.

Aldi isn’t shooting itself in the foot and getting rid of all impulse items from its checklanes, but rather re-merchandising select checkout lanes to feature healthier options such as single serving of nuts, trail mixes, dried fruits and granola bars.

Build-A-Bear Workshop is still expecting a third consecutive year of positive same store sales despite a decline in traffic over the holiday period.

On a preliminary basis, for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3, the company said it now expects: