News Briefs

Two iconic and storied Swiss watch brands are joining forces.

In a move that caught the sector by surprise, Rolex said that it would buy luxury watch and jewelry retailer Bucherer for an undisclosed amount. In a statement, Rolex said that Bucherer, which has more than 100 stores worldwide, will keep its name and continue to operate independently under its current management team.

Rolex said it decided to buy the retailer after third-generation owner, 86-year-old Jörg Bucherer, in the absence of direct descendants to take the reins, decided to sell his company’s business.  (In 2019, Bucherer acquired acquired luxury watch brand Tourneau from an affiliate of Leonard Green & Partners.)

“This move reflects the Geneva-based brand's desire to perpetuate the success of Bucherer and preserve the close partnershp ties that have linked both companies since 1924,” Rolex said in a statement. “For more than 90 years, the two businesses have worked alongside one another and have each contributed to the other's achievements and growth.”

Fiftty-three of Bucherer stores are authorized Rolex dealers. And 48 Bucherer stores also distribute the Tudor brand, which is also owned by Rolex. Rolex itself does not operate any physical stores.

“The Rolex group is convinced that this acquisition is the best solution not only for its own brands but also for all the watch and jewelry partner brands, as well as for all the employees of the Bucherer group,” Rolex stated.

The company noted that its “fruitful collaboration” with other official retailers in its sales network will remain unchanged.

The acquisition requires the approval of Swiss competition authorities.

Hudson’s Bay is migrating its loyalty program to a cloud-based digital marketing platform.

The Canadian department store retailer, which operates 85 Hudson’s Bay stores as well as its TheBay.com digital marketplace, has signed a three-year loyalty contract with U.K.-based SaaS technology provider Eagle Eye. .

Leveraging the Eagle Eye's AIR a cloud-based intelligent digital marketing platform, Hudson's Bay plans to relaunch its digital loyalty program later in August 2023. The retailer will utilize the AIR solution to support the launch of a real-time, omnichannel loyalty program, targeting its six million loyalty members, through integration with its existing technology stack.

"We are delighted to be supporting such an iconic brand as Hudson's Bay in relaunching their loyalty program,” said Eagle Eye CEO Tim Mason. “This contract strengthens our presence in North America, a growing digital promotions market.”

Grocery retailer Giant Eagle also utilizes the Eagle Eye AIR intelligent digital marketing platform to facilitate personalized loyalty offers at scale, as well as to enable the end-to-end management of real-time personalized promotions. This enables Giant Eagle to continue to upgrade its in-store customer experience and shift away from traditionally paper-based promotional activity.

Hudson’s Bay is a banner of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), operator of a brand portfolio including Hudson’s Bay, The Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5^th.

A regional Midwest convenience store chain is attempting to create a seamless omnichannel customer experience via its mobile app.

Earlier in August 2023, Kum & Go launched a new mobile app and rewards offering with support from Orium. The upgraded app leverages the Orium React Native Accelerator customer engagement solution  to combine ordering, payment, and loyalty into a unified omnichannel experience.

Leveraging the upgraded app, customers can now prepay for fuel, order customized food, browse deals, and get personalized recommendations. Members of the Kum & Go &Rewards loyalty offering can have all their transactions connected back into the program, so they can accumulate points to spend how they want.

The Kum & Go digital technology team worked with Orium to build out the accelerator, creating the foundations for mobile native composable experiences. a A composable architecture is a cloud-based collection of integrated, best-of-breed solutions that communicate with each other and act as a customized technology ecosystem.

"The new Kum & Go mobile app experience is a perfect example of how commerce, content, POS, loyalty and even fuel pumps can connect together to create incredible, truly omnichannel, customer-first experiences," said Ben Woll, Orium's VP client services. "This app truly has it all. And because it's grounded in composable commerce technologies, the customer experience will continue to evolve in tandem with the needs of the business."

Iowa-based Kum & Go, a family-owned convenience store chain which operates more than 400 stores across the Midwest and western parts of the country, is upgrading its app and loyalty experience as it undergoes expansion into new markets and acquisition by convenience store operator Maverik – Adventure’s First Stop and its parent company, FJ Management.

Pacsun is unifying its associate and customer experience with a new POS solution.

The specialty teen apparel retailer is implementing Manhattan Associates Active POS in an effort to enhance its omnichannel sales strategy and deliver a seamless, unified customer shopping experience. PacSun, which operates an online store and more than 300 stores nationwide, is adding the POS module to its existing Manhattan Active Omni Order Management implementation.

The retailer already leverages Manhattan Associates order management and store inventory and fulfillment solutions. By adding POS. the company is attempting to round out its omnichannel offerings and gives associates a single, intuitive experience across all in-store selling, engagement and fulfillment functions.

“The addition of Manhattan Active Point of Sale is a pivotal moment for PacSun as we solidify our position as a leader in unified commerce,” said Shirley Gao, CIO of PacSun. “We highly value the comprehensive and robust nature of the entire suite of Manhattan Active Omni solutions, including Point of Sale. This powerful application gives us access to advanced Omnicart capabilities, customer interaction insights, clienteling, customer-controlled fulfillment and endless aisle functionality to deliver an advanced omnichannel shopping experience to our customers.”

“With Manhattan Active Point of Sale in place, PacSun is well-positioned to continue its success as a leading fashion destination for both Gen Z and millennial shoppers,” said Bob Howell, executive VP of Americas for Manhattan Associates. “We are proud to support this innovative retailer, and we are delighted they chose our next generation point of sale solution

[Read more: Pacsun debuts new store concept at Mall of America — more locations to follow]

The design house renowned for its elegant and pricey wedding gowns has moved to a swankier section of New York City.

Vera Wang, whose headquarters for years resided on the north border of Madison Square Park, a few blocks up from the Flatiron Building, has relocated to 500 Park Avenue in Manhattan’s Plaza District--two blocks from Central Park.

The brand will occupy a 26,708-sq.-ft. space that takes up the entire 7^th floor of the former Pepsi-Cola  Building where Frato, a luxury furniture and interior accessories retailer, keeps its flagship showroom.

Vera Wang joins a roster of office tenants that happens to include premier-property retail real estate companies Friedland Properties and the Georgetown Company, the developer of Easton Town Center in Columbus.

The new location is surrounded by numerous restaurants, retail outlets, and cultural attractions and is close by the stop for the 4, 5, and 6 subway lines.

JLL vice chairmen Cynthia Wasserberger and Frank Doyle represented 500 Park’s ownership in the lease. Vera Wang was represented by Savills.

“As a boutique, high-touch asset, 500 Park Ave. remains one of the Plaza District’s statement properties,” said Wasserberger. “Its elegant and modernist design appealed to the tenant and the oversized windows hovering above Park Avenue allow for a light-filled working experience that complements the Vera Wang showroom design.”

Pedestrian traffic in American downtowns this July was 1.8% points higher than it was in June.  It’s the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase, though the smallest of the year so far, according to Springboard’s Downtown Pedestrian Traffic Report.

Big traffic declines took place on weekends (4.1% lower than in July) when city visits tend to be leisure-based and not work-related. Hot weather and thunderstorms in many markets likely stanched the flow, noted Springboard, a provider of insights on brick-and-mortar retail activity.

Between Monday and Friday, pedestrian traffic was 2.3% higher than it was in June and more than 5% higher than in June 2022.

Though July’s month-to-month traffic increase was modest at under two percentage points, its annual rise of 3.2% continued an upward post-pandemic traffic trajectory.

One notable exception occurred in the nation’s biggest downtown—New York City.

Pedestrian traffic there declined for the second straight month to 0.3% below June. Its weekend crowds dropped by 4.5%.