News

Target Corp. is launching a major and wide-ranging initiative to improve its in-store shopper experience.  

The initiative, called LA25, will be rolled out in 25 Target stores in Los Angeles. It involves everything from more helpful store signage and more modern fixtures to the exploration of RFID technology to help store associates track down missing products. The first wave of stores will be updated in the coming weeks, with a second batch getting a makeover in spring 2016.

The 175,000-plus retailers who sell through the cloud-based multichannel Shopify platform will soon have a new sales channel more easily available.

Shopify has partnered with Facebook to enable Shopify merchants to showcase and sell their products in the new Shop section on Facebook pages.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association introduced its second Retail Energy Management Report, a resource for companies to compare energy management programs across the industry and identify opportunities for progress.

The report was released prior to the opening of RILA’s 2015 Retail Sustainability Conference, now in its eighth year.

Amazon.com is priming consumers in southern California for fast delivery.

Amazon’s Prime Now one-hour delivery service, has expanded to Los Angeles and Orange County, including areas such as Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Silver Lake and Irvine.

To support this expansion of Prime Now, Amazon has established four Prime Now hubs in southern California to serve its Prime members with superfast delivery on tens of thousands of items including paper towels, chilled and frozen items like milk and ice cream, and televisions and Kindle devices.

NFC-enabled contactless mobile payments, such as those enabled by smartphone-based digital wallet services like Apple Pay and Android Pay, currently make up a tiny fraction of card transactions. However, a new study from Indian mobile solutions provider Mahindra Comviva suggests contactless mobile payments are set to grow quickly.

The Container Store is teaming up with the Rhode Island School of Design on a creative contest that invites design students to re-think the organized home.

The goal is to give design students a platform to present their product ideas to The Container Store and the chance to see their ideas produced. The product submissions need to appeal to The Container Store’s consumer.

The Sports Authority is teaming up with Under Armour and MapMyFitness on a new fitness rewards program.

The retailer says rewards members soon will be able to earn retail rewards for completing activities within the MapMyFitness app.

Just in time for the holidays, Amazon.com has extended its addictive Prime Now service to Southern California by establishing four distribution hubs.