News

Study: Product recommendations combat dropping conversions, cart adds
Philadelphia — Except for a momentary spike during the 2014 holiday season, conversion and add-to-cart rates have been dropping steadily year-over-year. However, according to the global Ecommerce Quarterly report from Monetate, personalized, relevant product recommendations help brands avoid this issue.
Report: Amazon mulls crowdsourced delivery
Amazon is considering creating a network of drivers similar to Uber in order to speed up deliveries and reduce shipping costs, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Instead of using UPS or FedEx, Amazon.com is mulling a plan to hire ordinary people to make deliveries that are on the way to their destinations, the Journal says. The e-commerce giant is also looking at partnering with retailers to store the merchandise before delivery.

Read more by clicking here.

Authentic Brands Group completes purchase of Frederick’s of Hollywood

New York — Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) , whose brands include Jones New York and Juicy Couture, has closed on its purchase of Frederick's of Hollywood Group for an undisclosed sum. Previous reports indicated the acquisition agreement, announced in April 2015, was for $22.5 million.
Music festival cool coming to the mall

Simon Property Group is giving shoppers a reason to come to that mall that doesn’t involve shopping.

The company is teaming up with Refinery29 to transform mall shopping into a summer festival experience with fashion "stages," beauty bars, and live musical performances. Style Festival takes inspiration from the music festival culture that has become a millennial rite of passage.
Anna’s Linens files for Chapter 11; negotiating sale

Costa Mesa, Calif. — Anna's Linens Inc. announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection on June 14. The retailer said it is working to negotiate a sale to DW Partners, a multi-strategy fund manager with $6 billion in assets.

The asset management firm would become “the stalking horse” bidder, and make the initial bid in a bankruptcy auction sale.
Coca-Cola to give $1 for every video share of Olympic song

Coca-Cola wants U.S. consumers to “Reach Up” to support the 2015 Special Olympics in Los Angeles.

The company has assembled a star-studded team to record a song for the games called “Reach Up,” which will be featured on Coke's social media channels. The song features rock band O.A.R., recording artist Cody Simpson, Breanna Bogucki, a singer and decorated Special Olympics athlete from Illinois who has Autism, and Madison Tevlin, a young Canadian woman with Down syndrome who became a viral sensation earlier this year.
Target CEO talks about new partnernship with CVS

Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell commented on the chain’s new partnership with CVS Health in a Q&A on Target’s blog, A Bullseye View. Here are some excerpts:
Ollie’s eyes IPO and 950 stores

Off-price retailer Ollie’s quietly doubled in size the past few years and now the company plans to go public, accelerating growth of no-frills stores it affectionately refers to as “semi-lovely” warehouses.

Ollie’s operates 181 stores in the Eastern U.S. that last year generated annual sales $638 million and net income of $26.9 million.
Extreme-value retailer Ollie's files for IPO; sees potential for 950 stores

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Extreme-value retailer Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings on Monday filed for an initial public offering. With a tagline of "good stuff cheap,” Ollie’s operates 181 stores in the Eastern United States, expects to open 25 to 30 stores in fiscal 2015 and sees the potential for more than 950 locations across the country. (For more on Ollie’s, click here.)
Unilever launches Chinese e-commerce site

As more brands evolve to a direct-to-consumer model, Unilever is expanding its direct selling to China by launching a flagship store on JD.com.

The Unilever flagship store on JD Worldwide, which is JD.com's cross-border e-commerce platform, will feature products from a range of Unilever’s most popular global brands such as Ponds, Dove and Vaseline. Notably, the flagship store will make available three product lines from Lux's shampoo range, which are currently the best-selling shampoo products in the Japanese market.