News

Los Angeles – Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG), owner of the Juicy Couture brand, is launching a new multiyear partnership to expand the scope of e-commerce services for Juicy Couture, with Onestop Internet, a full-spectrum e-commerce solution provider.

Oak Brook, Ill. – As official NFL restaurant sponsor, McDonald's is launching the national McDonald's Tailgate Photo Sweepstakes. McDonald's customers can use QR codes on McDonald's medium beverages with NFL-themed packaging to access exclusive online NFL Now video content.

Customers can also use QR codes on McDonald's medium fries to access the McDonald's Pick The Play Sweepstakes and enter for the chance to win NFL-related prizes – including a trip for two to Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona.

New York - Nook Media, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble Inc., together with video game manufacturer Rovio, will make the upcoming “Angry Birds Stella” game available for preview exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3. During that time, customers can come to any Barnes & Noble store nationwide and visit the Nook Counter to play the game, before anyone else, on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook in-store demo devices.

Detroit – Office and school supply e-commerce retailer Chalkfly has launched a redesigned, fully responsive website that leverages SLI Systems search technology. Chalkfly’s use of SLI’s intuitive site search functionality enables customers to quickly and easily find and purchase items amid more than 60,000 products in office and school supply categories.  

Montreal - GDecide has created a free private social network for decision making, aimed at Millennial consumers. The network offers a platform that collates and tallies responses to questions and only distributes questions to the select circle of network connections users wishes to poll, protecting the privacy of its users.

San Francisco – Icix, a provider of supply chain risk management technology, is expanding its Audit Manager suite. Audit Manager applications help companies automate and streamline their audit programs to provide more insight and verification of trading partners’ practices and facilities.

The Icix Audit Manager Suite now includes:

Grocery-anchored centers respond to changing consumer tastes and consolidation

As supermarket tenants are challenged to meet the needs of an increasingly diversified and sophisticated consumer base, and given the significant trend toward consolidation, landlords are tasked with delivering top-notch grocery-anchored centers — with a diminishing number of anchors from which to choose.

Add in growing pressure on the grocery segment from competitors in the mass merchandise, discount and even dollar store verticals, plus small — but real — grocery in

By definition, successful retailers are very good at logistics.    

“Compared with other industries, retailers are a benchmark of logistical efficiency for moving items through their distribution channels and on to shelves in a timely way,” said Jim Griffin, senior VP sales, PODS, whose detached delivery system allows placement of containers in tough-to-reach and hard-to-fit locations.
    
Griffin spoke with Chain Store Age about how logistics efficiency can add to a retailer’s bottom line.
    
What are some of the most

Another digital retailer has made the leap to the physical space. Online beauty subscription company Birchbox, famous for the pink boxes packed with sample products that it sends to subscribers each month, has opened its first brick-and-mortar store, in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.

The duplex-styled, 4,500-sq.-ft. space is bright and airy, with light woods and a white palette accented with pops of color.

As the holiday season approaches, many retailers will ramp up their staff to accommodate the increase in customers and other operational demands. However, in today’s era of widespread employment litigation, employers must be even more conscientious of the legal liabilities and practical consequences they face during this time of year.

Despite the fast-paced nature of the holiday rush, companies should still conduct their due diligence when screening new employees, whether they are long-term or seasonal.