News

New York - Imports to the U.S. were up in August from July, and there was a measurable year-over-year increase. According to a new report from supply chain research firm Panjiva, imports in August 2014 were 4% higher than imports the same month the prior year.

By Navneet Loiwal, CEO and co-founder of Shopular

Austin, Texas - Based on previous savings experienced during the holiday season in 2013 and projected industry growth in 2014, U.S. shoppers have the opportunity to save more than $5 billion dollars by using deal and offer websites during the upcoming holiday season. According to a new study from RetailMeNot and Dr. Jason Abrevaya, Ph.D., economics department chair at the University of Texas at Austin, consumers have the potential to save more than $200 an hour while using RetailMeNot.com, or $34 in 10 minutes.

Spartanburg, S.C. - Denny’s and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios have partnered to create a new animated Web series, “The Grand Slams.” Starring a cast of characters, Egg, Pancake, Sausage and Bacon, based on the brand’s dish, The Grand Slam, the series launches an exclusive online trailer Oct. 1 and debuts its first episode Oct. 15.

Houston - Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has completed its acquisition of the mattress specialty retail assets and operations of Back to Bed Inc., M World Mattress LLC, MCStores LLC and TBE Orlando LLC, which collectively operate Back to Bed and Bedding Experts retail stores in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin and Bedding Experts and Mattress Barn retail stores in Florida.

Chicago - Vera Bradley has implemented ShopperTrak's Perimeter Analytics solution at each of its new U.S. stores in 2014, with plans to roll out the service across all corporate stores in the coming year. Vera Bradley plans to use ShopperTrak Perimeter Analytics for a variety of purposes, including predicting its labor model, understanding peak times for stores and creating a reliable, global platform for consistent data reporting.

Greensboro, N.C. - Convenience store operator Mapco recently partnered with Gilbarco Veeder-Root to install the Impulse upselling platform across 220 sites by the end of 2014. Mapco, which operates 375 stores in the Southeast, is using the Impulse platform to drive dynamic digital content at both the point-of-sale and through their mobile application.

Cranbury, N.J. - Carid.com, an automotive parts and accessories retailer, has partnered with the could-based hosting company Rackspace. Carid.com uses an architecture consisting of dedicated database servers connected to multiple cloud Web servers, allowing the company to deliver relevant information, useful online tools and the latest technology, as well as offer users consistent performance with no delays.

San Francisco - Zupa, a mobile marketplace where members buy and sell directly within the app from a user generated community of merchandise, launches today for iPhone and iPod Touch on the App Store. Shipping is calculated automatically and shipping labels are sent to users in an instant.

San Francisco - Scandit, a developer of a software-based barcode scanning solution for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, has released an integrated suite of mobile apps to enhance the consumer shopping experience and retail operations. Scandit’s Mobile App Suite for Retail provides a series of fully customizable, cross-platform mobile applications for retail employees and customers including: clienteling, mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), mobile shopping, self-checkout, shopping lists and procurement.