WORKFORCE

Sam’s Club associates now have the information they need to improve shoppers’ in-store experiences in real-time.

Walmart is stepping up investments related to the “connected customer,” efforts that will drive strong e-commerce growth for the next fiscal year.

Party City is getting ready for the Halloween rush.   The party goods retailer plans to open up more than 270 Halloween City pop-up stores during its make-or-break season. These locations will bring the company’s store fleet up to more than 1,200 Party City and Halloween City retail outlets.  

Don’t expect to hear specifics about Kohl’s holiday workforce any time soon.   Unlike other chains, including Target and Macy’s, that have announced their plans to hire thousands of temporary workers during the holiday season, Kohl’s is not discussing the number of seasonal hires its will make, according to CNBC.  

Target Corp. is raising the stakes in the battle for retail store talent — and giving its employees a holiday surprise in the process.   The discounter on Monday announced plans to raise its minimum hourly wage for all associates to $11 in October. It also pledged to increase the rate to $15 by the end of 2020. The retailer said the move will help it better recruit and retain top-quality staff and provide a better shopping experience for customers.  

Amazon is about to put down some new roots in New York City — and is hunting for new employees to support the operation.  

Walmart is bucking the holiday hiring trend again this year.    Unlike other competitors that are hiring thousands of temporary workers to service shoppers during the holiday season, the discount giant plans to offer extra hours to its current associates. These shifts will staff traditional roles like cashier and stocker, and newly created technology-empowered positions, such as personal shoppers and Pickup associates, according to Walmart.  

UPS is ramping up its holiday workforce.   The company plans to hire approximately 95,000 seasonal employees to support an anticipated increase in package shipments during the 2017 holiday shopping season. UPS expects increased delivery volume to span between early November and January 2018.    This marks the fourth straight year that UPS is hiring this number of employees for the holiday season, according to Reuters.