TECHNOLOGY

Staples leverages new app to assist business customers
Staples’ business division is using a mobile app to help customers visualize site assessments.
Kohl’s leap-frogs competition and reveals Black Friday deals
As a teaser for its Thanksgiving Day opening, Kohl’s is launching a one-day Black Friday sale Wednesday, Nov. 3. Available in-store and on its website, Kohl’s will feature one day of Black Friday deals for shoppers eager to get a jump on their holiday shopping. The program supports its holiday tagline, the “First Place to Stop and Best Place to Shop.” Featured merchandise includes Serta gel memory foam mattresses, 50-inch LED TVs, inflatable hot tubs, and appliances, such as food processors, among other merchandise.

A new era: Walmart’s e-commerce management shakeup

Walmart’s $3.3 billion purchase of e-commerce startup jet.com has spurred a shakeup across the retail giant’s digital operations. Exiting the chain are Fernando Madeira, president and CEO of Walmart.com, and Dianne Mills, senior VP of global e-commerce human resources. (As previously announced, Neil Ashe, president and CEO of global e-commerce, is also leaving).
Walmart and Kroger in dead heat…

Two of the nation’s largest retailers shared the No. 1 position in a ranking of the top U.S. retailers. Walmart and Kroger Co. tied for first place (in the overall composite score) in Kantar Retail’s 2016 Retailer PoweRanking. The ranking is designed to identify the retailers currently setting the highest standards of performance as viewed by their trading partners, and to gain insight into what makes these retailers "best in class."
Nordstrom focuses on customers in holiday marketing
Report: A majority of shoppers use social media throughout their path to purchase

Social media is increasingly influencing the shopper’s entire path-to-purchase.
Nine Predictions for the 2016 Retail Holiday Season

With Halloween now behind us, the unofficial start of the 2016 retail holiday season is upon us. Amid intensifying competition, where are retailers placing their bets? Here are observations and expectations from Profitero for the critical fourth quarter seasonal period:
Report: Almost half of consumers skipping Black Friday

Year-round e-commerce sales and discounting have dulled the impact of traditional Black Friday sales for many consumers. These shoppers are so desensitized to “Black Friday hype” that nearly three in four respondents (73%) said they prefer to do their holiday shopping outside of the holiday season, during e-commerce sales, such as Amazon Prime Day. These preferences have influenced 47% of shoppers to skip Black Friday or Cyber Monday altogether this year, according to the second annual “JDA Consumer Survey.”
Shoptalk reveals speaker lineup

Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target Corp., and Mindy Grossman, CEO and director of HSN, are among the headliners at Shoptalk 2017, the nex-gen retail and e-commerce event. Also on the bill: Devin Wenig, president and CEO of eBay.
Report: Digital and human interactions key to brick-and-mortar success

The more help a consumer receives—digital and human—the more he or she is willing to spend while in the store. Consumers spend twice as much in-store when they receive assistance from a store associate, according to a new study by InMoment, and 2.2 times more when they surf the brand’s web site while in the store. What’s more, a consumer’s average single-trip spend increases nearly four times when engaged by both in-store staff and the brand’s web site.