News

Report: Jet.com flies below Amazon, Wal-Mart prices
Hoboken, N.J. – New membership-based Jet.com officially took off into wide rollout on July 21, and initial pricing analysis shows it is flying beneath competitors Amazon.com and Wal-Mart when it comes to what customers are paying.
Alibaba stays busy
Hangzhou, China – If idle hands are the tool of the devil, then Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Holding Group Inc. has very righteous hands. Alibaba is staying busy with a new plan to protect cloud data and new cloud solutions, as well as partnerships to provide e-commerce logistics and online sourcing.

Is the Apple Watch a success?

Apple CEO Tim Cook says the Apple Watch is off to “a great start,” although the company did decline to provide specific sales figures for the watch in its third quarter report on Tuesday.
Want a Neiman Marcus gift card? Sell some stuff

Dallas – Neiman Marcus shoppers who want to get a gift card can now give a little something to receive one. Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. is partnering with luxury consignment provider The RealReal in a new program that offers consignors payment in Neiman Marcus gift cards with an extra 10% added to the value of their payout.
Home Depot targets pros with $1.6B acquisition

The Home Depot Inc. is spending about $1.6 billion in an acquisition squarely aimed at better meeting the needs of its professional customers.
Bassett Furniture names Ethan Allen exec as store development

Bassett, Va. - Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. has named Ann Zaccaria has joined the organization as VP, real estate and new store development. She will be responsible for site selection, lease negotiation and store planning for new Bassett retail locations.

Zaccaria served as VP, real estate with Ethan Allen Interiors for the last 22 years.

Bassett Furniture is a manufacturer and marketer of mid-priced home furnishings with 92 company- and licensee-owned stores.
Neiman Marcus gets RealReal on luxury consignment

In a classic case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” Neiman Marcus is deepening its relationship with an organization that could be viewed as a competitor.
City Sports makes omnichannel personal

Boston – City Sports is making things personal with its omnichannel customers. The specialty sporting goods retailer is leveraging technology from BlueConic to help the company offer a more personalized shopping experience across channels.
Marbles smartens store and site operations with Salsify

Chicago – When a retailer includes the word “brain” right in its name, a certain level of operational intelligence is expected. For 30-plus-unit specialty educational toy and game retailer Marbles: The Brain Store, smartening up operations has included organizing product data on the Salsify product information management platform to provide merchandise intelligence across the organization.
Meijer surveys back-to-school shoppers

With back-to-school shopping on the horizon, parents are looking to get their shopping started early in the hope of getting the best deals, according to Meijer’s customer survey.