TECHNOLOGY

Purchases from mobile devices continue to rise and upping ad spend is driving results for retailers.

According to data from Rakuten Marketing., purchases from smartphones that originated from a display ad on a computer increased by 52% between the third and fourth quarter of 2015. During that time tablet purchases that resulted from a display ad on a computer grew by 125%.

Traditional supermarket retailers are facing competition on all fronts, from online pure players, discount grocery chains and from the extreme-value general merchandise retailers (dollar stores). While dollar stores remain a niche segment, consumables are becoming a more important part of the sector, according to a report on forbes.com.

Both Walmart Canada and Loblaw companies sent financial aid to support the relief efforts in the Fort McMurray community. According to reports published Friday morning, fires in the province of Alberta have to date forced the evacution of 88,000 residents and destroyed more than 1,600 structures.

Five retail chains rank among the top 10 brands doing a poor job when it comes to emotional engagement, a measure of how well brands meet consumer expectations, according to an annual survey.

Retailers who can get consumers to generate social and online content about them have a decided competitive edge.

According to the new “CGC Index” from social marketing technology provider Bazaarvoice, consumer-generated content (CGC), or digital content that people create about a product or service they have experienced, used, purchased, or considered, can have a significant impact on retailer performance.

Academy Sports + Outdoors has opened a 1.6 million square foot distribution center that dramatically increases the company’s ability to support store expansion and omnichannel initiatives.

A leading payment card issuer and the world’s largest discount retailer are both launching efforts to reduce how long customers have to wait to check out with EMV-compliant payment cards.

Visa Inc. is rolling out a technology enhancement designed to optimize EMV chip card processing and speed up checkout times. The new solution, called Quick Chip for EMV, streamlines the processing of chip card transactions to enable customers to dip and remove their EMV chip card from the terminal, typically in two seconds or less, without waiting for the transaction to be finalized.

Supervalu is adding a veteran wholesale executive to a new C-level position and also enacting several other changes to its senior leadership team.

James Weidenheimer, 57, has been named to the newly-created position of executive VP, corporate development and chief innovation officer, reporting to Supervalu president and CEO Mark Gross. Weidenheimer joins the company after having spent the last 16 years in senior leadership positions with C&S Wholesale Grocers. He is expected to start in his new role by April 25, 2016.

CVS Health is teaming up with a Bay Area startup to offer consumers in-store pick-up at their neighborhood CVS for digital purchases.