News

IRVINE, Calif. — Vizio has agreed to let Curtis International Ltd., which sells digital televisions in the United States and Canada under the Curtis brand, become a licensee under Vizio's QAM patent portfolio. The parties have not disclosed financial terms of the agreement under which Curtis has agreed to make royalty payments to Vizio for sales of licensed products.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Von Mauer may not be a household name in the retail world, but the Davenport, Iowa-based department store chain must be doing something right with its online business.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hallmark has formed a strategic alliance with Shutterfly Inc., an Internet-based photo sharing company. The alliance, which will roll out in phases, includes co-branded online and retail-based product offerings.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target is taking “The Amazing Spider-Man” fan experience beyond the big screen with a selection of merchandise inspired by the summer action movie.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid maintained its same-store sales momentum, posting gains across front-end and pharmacy comparable sales for the sixth consecutive quarter: Overall same-store sales were up 2.5%, reflecting a 2.7% across the front-end and a 2.4% uptick across pharmacy, for the first quarter ended June 2.

You can learn a lot by monitoring consumer conversations in social media. It can predict political elections, the Oscars and even the next reality show winner. If you are a CPG marketer, social media can also be a real-time predictor of your new product’s success.

Ideeli will be able to further expand its capabilities, thanks to a $30 million investment from Credit Suisse and current institutional investors. According to the company, the new capital will be used to strengthen its infrastructure and fuel the flash-sales retailer's growth prospects.

Week in and week out, Walmart wins on the pricing front with the biggest unknown being the magnitude of the spread between it and competitors, several reports out this confirmed.

Deb Weinswig at Citigroup looks at prices in three U.S. markets every two weeks and her most recent assessment showed Walmart beating Kroger by 12.1%, Safeway by 17.4%, Supervalu by 20.6% and Target by 4.8%.

NEW YORK — New predictive analytics tools are being used at Saks Off 5th stores to help the company make smarter merchandising decisions.

The retailer is using tools provided by First Insight to generate insights from online customer engagement to help it make faster and more accurate buying and pricing decisions for new products, according to First Insight. The Pittsburgh-based company said the predictive analytics it generates will help the company reduce markdowns, out of stocks and mitigate the risks associated with new product launches.

Walmart’s EVP merchandising services, Pam Kohn, addressed members of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce earlier this month. A recap of her remarks is available by clicking here.