News

Ultra high definition displays installed at the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall produce stunning images, engage shoppers and serve as a reminder why retail pundits are wrong who say, “the mall is dead.”

Wolverine Worldwide, a leading marketer of branded footwear, apparel and accessories, is leveraging Demandware as the digital commerce backbone of its global retail direct-to-consumer operations.

The company is consolidating its digital commerce operations for its brand portfolio across all geographies onto the Demandware Commerce platform. The first brand to launch on Demandware is Sperry Top-Sider, which went live with eight international Web and mobile commerce sites in January.

After a successful launch of a menswear line at Sears, singer Adam Levine is launching an exclusive women’s wear line at 500 Kmart stores and supporting the initiative with a strong digital component.

Sears Holdings announced that Levine’s line would be available on Thursday, April 10 at Kmart and the retailer’s shopyourway.com online site.

A kosher deli and Murray’s Cheese shop will be part of a new 72,000-sq.-ft. Ralph’s Fresh Fare supermarket set to open on Thursday, April 10 in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks.

Rakuten has teamed up with First Bankcard to launch the Rakuten Rewards MasterCard Program, which provides cardholders with reward points for using their credit card to shop on Rakuten.com and elsewhere.  

Rakuten.com, formerly Buy.com, is Rakuten's U.S. marketplace, offering consumers more than 17 million products at everyday low prices from a network of small and large business shop owners.

L’Oréal Paris and the Melanoma Research Alliance, a private funder of melanoma research, have announced the launch of the “It’s THAT Worth It” campaign, a public health call-to-action that urges women of all skin tones to prevent melanoma by using sunscreen and to help save lives by supporting melanoma research for a cure.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in March 2013 versus March 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. H.E.B. and Publix topped the charts in circular page change, with increases of 27.8% and 41.2%, respectively. The massive increase at Publix was attributable to the release of an additional circular this March (five versus four in 2013), while H.E.B. simply ran more pages in each of its five March circulars (eight to 12 pages each this year, as opposed to six to eight last year).

New York -- Coldwater Creek Inc. is planning to liquidate its assets after a bankruptcy filing that is expected to come soon, Bloomberg News reported. The filing would come five months after the specialty women's apparel retailer, which is based in Sandpoint, Idaho, said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. announced that its shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve the company’s acquisition by Sycamore Partners.

Under the terms of the deal, Sycamore will acquire Jones for $15.00 per share in cash, or a total transaction value of approximately $2.2 billion.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings announced that William Hutchinson will join the company as senior VP and president, supply chain. Hutchinson, who most recently served as VP of global fulfillment and logistics for Dell, succeeds Raj Penkar who has led the company's supply chain business unit since 2011. Penkar will retire from Sears Holdings on May 31.

In his new role with the company, Hutchinson will be accountable for all aspects of the company's supply chain, including distribution, transportation, customs compliance and global sourcing.