News

ShopYourWay, the digital loyalty, marketing and shopping platform of Sears and Kmart, has enlisted YouTube celebrities Ricky Dillon and Jenn McCallister to be “curators of cool” for the site.

Dillon and McCalister collaborated with Shop Your Way to deliver their first semester fashion picks, creating catalogs members can like, follow and share. They have nearly 10 million fans combined on social media networks such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

New York – Ann Inc. is being urged to explore options, including a sale, by activist investor Engine Capital and Red Alder. The two firms, who collectively own more than 1% of the outstanding shares of Ann Inc., are publicly urging the company to sell at a substantial premium above current stock price.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has presented retired Walmart president and CEO Mike Duke with its 2014 Hall of Achievement Award at the GMA Leadership Forum at The Broadmoor. The Hall of Achievement Award represents the highest honor given by the more than 100 year-old association.

Emeryville, Calif. -- Jamba Inc., operators of Jamba Juice stores, reaffirmed its commitment to accelerate its move to an asset-light model with the announcement that the company has entered into an agreement with Capgemini, a leader provider of consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. The agreement provides enhanced administrative tools, technology services, and capabilities for Jamba, and is anticipated to create workflow efficiencies while reducing costs as the brand pursues a 10%-20% reduction of overall G&A in 2015.

Walldorf, Germany – Retailers should consider waiting until August to launch back-to-school promotions and focus them heavily on online shoppers. According to new data from SAP, consumer sentiment toward back-to-school advertising doesn’t become positive till the end of July.

New York -- Burger King Worldwide is in discussions to buy Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons. The two companies said in a joint statement on Monday that the new publicly listed entity would be based in Canada. The move comes as the White House is calling on Congress to take steps to prevent U.S. companies from moving outside the country (“tax inversions”).

The two restaurant companies are currently worth a combined total of about $18 billion, according to media reports.

Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Twitch Interactive, a leading live video platform for gamers. In July, more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than 1 million broadcasters, including individual gamers, pro players, publishers, developers, media outlets, conventions and stadium-filling e-sports organizations.

Nashville, Tenn. - Cybera Inc., a provider of virtual application network services, has completed a new National Bankcard Service (NBS) payment Virtual Application Network (VAN) that enables connectivity between POS and NBS payment processors. With this new partnership, Cybera has given NBS the ability to process payment through POS systems that emit payment through serial interface.