News

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) is formally opposing the proposed settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit brought by 19 trade associations and six retailers in 2005. The lawsuit involves “swipe fees” charged for credit card transactions by Visa and Mastercard. Retailers that agree to settlement terms are eligible for a share of a $7.25 billion settlement.

Originally developed by Midwest Glove to grow gardening category sales, the "Head-to-Toe" spinner has just received a Gold Merchandising Award at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas for merchandising distinction. 

The innovative floor stand allows retailers to offer a customized mix of hats, gloves and footwear manufactured by Midwest Gloves. In addition to the customizable assortment capabilities, a small 1.25-sq.-ft. footprint means the display can be strategically located to maximize sales without disrupting customer traffic.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Google will close down its Google Checkout online payment service for good in November of this year. The online service and technology provider says the move is part of a broader transition to its Google Wallet multichannel commerce platform.

Franklin, Tenn. -- Almost three in 10 (28%) of North American retailers plan to adopt mobile POS technology by the end of the year, according to a new study from IHL Group.

Results of “Mobile POS: Hype to Reality” also indicate that 45% of all tablet POS shipments go to specialty retailers, mobile POS solutions will cannibalize about 12% of traditional retail POS shipments by 2016 and more than 85% of larger retailers say that in the next three years mobile POS systems will complement, rather than replace, traditional POS systems.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — Topco Associates LLC has hired former Limited Brands executive Paul Matthews as the company’s EVP and chief supply chain officer, reporting to president and CEO Randy Skoda. 

Topco provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for leading food industry member-owners and customers. Matthews will oversee procurement of the company’s corporate brand and perishable products as well as the company’s logistics, supply chain management and quality assurance areas.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid announced the election of former Blue Shield of California president, chairman and CEO Bruce Bodaken to its board of directors. 

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Ikea and Walmart are among the retailers heading to Charlotte, N.C., to anchor the Belgate Shopping Center. The new 900,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is DDR Corp.’s first ground-up domestic development in more than four years. 

The center will also include junior anchors Marshalls, Old Navy, Petco, ULTA, Cost Plus World Market, Hobby Lobby and Shoe Carnival.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Columbia Sportswear is headed to the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference, being held May 21-23, in Phoenix, Ariz., to share insights and best practices for deploying cloud technology alongside GT Nexus. 

Fred Pond, VP, CIO of Columbia Sportswear, and Kurt Cavano, chief strategy officer at GT Nexus, will share lessons learned from Columbia's technology approach to executing global procure-to-pay processes in which buyers, suppliers, financial institutions and other key third parties operate on the same cloud platform.