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What if you could replicate the physical in-store experience on the web? The concept sounds incredibly powerful. Retailers could connect product experts with key audiences to demonstrate and sell physical products, just like in-store. The ubiquitous “Can I help you?” chat windows are a pale reflection, at best, of a truly interactive customer experience. It’s impossible to convey the intricate details that make a brand and its products unique in a text-only window.

New York -- The American Apparel saga continues, with the beleaguered chain receiving a notice of default from its longtime lender, Lion Capital.
   
The default notice was based on the claim that founder Dov Charney ceased to be CEO of the company, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. (Lion had a stipulation in its loan agreement, which was signed last year, stating that if Charney left the company, it would be in default.)
  


A longtime HSN executive has been promoted to president of HSN. Bill Brand has been at HSNi since 2006 as SVP programming and has been the company’s chief marketing officer — a post he’ll maintain alongside his new position — since 2013.
 

Washington, D.C. - Americans love giving and receiving gift cards. According to a survey of more than 1,100 U.S. consumers from the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), 77% of consumers have given a gift card in the past year and 90% have received at least one in the past year.

Atlanta – Following Staples’ expansion of its Staples Connect home and office automation platform to 500 stores, The Home Depot is making Wink-enabled connected home products available for purchase in its nearly 2,000 U.S. stores and online.

With back to-school season underway, many retailers are already offering deals and discounts to drive traffic to their online and brick-and-mortar stores. Staples is no different.

The retailer’s price-match program, launched a little more than a week ago, gives shoppers incentive by promising to match a competitor’s price — including prices on Amazon and any retailer with both online and brick-and-mortar stores — on any items sold in Staples stores or on Staples.com. Customers will then receive 10% off the difference.

By Jason Peck, Director of Marketing, Canvas

Business adoption of new technologies often flows from their personal use. This certainly applies to mobile apps and devices. The ability to download an app in seconds, share photos and data via the cloud in real-time, and communicate from any location at any time have evolved from “nice to have” to “need to have.”

Target has added three new external senior-level hires, who will have responsibility for leading teams across information technology, e-commerce and digital products.