News

Hollywood, Fla. – Altpay, a startup mobile payment company that released its patent-pending technology in April 2014, has received a $1 million equity investment from two family office investors. Altpay markets its mobile payment service in the U.S. to regional and mid-market retailers, including supermarkets, grocers, pharmacies and convenience stores.

Just like many of the products sold in its stores, TJX Companies is offering a limited duration holiday helpline staffed by folks who presume to know the perfect gift for anonymous recipients.

T.J. Maxx and Marshalls this week said they are bringing back their “Holiday Gift Hotline” to combat the issue they identified in a survey of people buying uninventive gifts. The hotline is a free service only available for limited hours Dec. 4-7 and is designed to provide shoppers with a variety of gift ideas to help them give gifts people really want to receive.

Seattle – Starbucks wants customers to feel wonderful this holiday season. From now through Jan. 5, 2015, customers who pay using a Starbucks Card or Starbucks mobile app, can enter the Starbucks It’s a Wonderful Card Ultimate Giveaway.

The omnichannel promotion offers the chance to win one of 482,000 instant prizes, and 10 customers in the U.S. will win the prize of Starbucks for Life, which is one free food or beverage item from participating stores every day for the next 30 years.

Washington, D.C. – In-store sales were down from Thanksgiving Day through Black Friday, but the culprit may have been early holiday shopping more than lackluster consumer interest. According to the Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) Index of U.S. same-store sales, in-store sales dropped 5.8% during that two-day period compared to the previous year.

Shoppers at Kmart who are looking for that must-have toy this holiday season will be also able to help raise money to end childhood cancer and other diseases.

Kmart has announced that beginning this Sunday through Dec. 13, the retailer will donate $1 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for every purchase from its annual Fab 15 toy list, up to a maximum donation of $25,000.  

New York – Black Friday was a more social event than Cyber Monday, with 3.5 million tweets and 838 million impressions compared to 839,000 tweets and 309 million impressions. According to a study from StatSocial, women were more likely than men to socially comment on both events, accounting for 59% of

Black Friday comments and 63% of Cyber Monday comments.

At a time when food pantries have a critical shortage of supplies and increased demand from those in need, Walmart is making a major pledge to help the hungry.

Morrisville. N.C. – Online sales for the total “Cyber Five” five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday rose 20.6% from the same period in 2013. According to analysis from ChannelAdvisor, the biggest increase occurred Cyber Saturday (27%) and smallest occurred on Cyber Monday (16.7%).