Please note that STORES Weekly will not publish next week in observance of Thanksgiving.

On the surface, Cuba’s cities, architecture, language and culture partly look like anywhere else in Latin America, but it’s vastly different on the economic front. Boston Consulting Group calls it “one of the last true white-space markets on the planet” and believes there could be big opportunities in the country for retailers.

The days of scanning spreadsheets for predictive patterns have gone the way of the typewriter and abacus. Working with Applied Predictive Technologies, London-based Dixons Carphone was able to remove unrelated variables to get a true measure of a campaign’s success.

In-store sales — and the in-store experience — are the cornerstone of retail success, but keeping associates up to date on product and company information can be a challenge. Kate Spade New York and Tiffany & Co. are using a mobile communications system called INCITE from Multimedia Plus that delivers information directly to associates’ mobile devices in the form of short videos.

Gift commerce offers a new type of personalized transaction and digitalized merchandise. Apparel brand American Giant uses shoppers Loop Commerce’s GiftNow platform, which allows gift recipients to make changes to a gift immediately online or choose another item. On Christmas Eve 2016, GiftNow accounted for 24 percent of site-wide sales.

STORES' annual Retail Industry Buying Guide, the retail industry's definitive buying guide, is now available! Take a look at the digital edition of this annual directory, designed to help retailers of all sizes and in all channels find the applications they need to run a successful enterprise.

Fast-food has been supplanted at one Orlando Walmart by an organic and green restaurant founded by former NBA star Ray Allen and his wife Shannon. Grown has two additional locations: a standalone in Miami and on a college campus in Connecticut.

Like the rest of the world, the average retail worker is sleep-deprived. Mattress Clarity put a number on that reality — those in retail would pay $110.58 for a good night’s sleep, slightly below the average of $120.

Luxury has come to home entertainment and appliances with the debut of the LG Signature Collection at Jonathan Adler flagships and pop-up mall locations throughout the United States. The accompanying Concierge program includes one-on-one customer support, priority dispatch and a pinpointed technician arrival time.

The digital edition of STORES includes must-read pieces, including the articles featured here. Read the current issue and browse the archives for issues you may have missed.

Neiman Marcus CEO Karen Katz started as an assistant store manager 32 years ago, and is now leading the luxury retailer’s “digital-first” approach. In the latest episode of NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast, Katz describes how the century-old U.S. company has evolved to emerge as a digital winner.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told retailers tax reform is “all about creating economic growth” while speaking at an Ohio Council of Retail Merchants lunch in Columbus. The event was moderated by NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay; NRF believes tax reform will help create jobs and boost the economy.

Many skills acquired through military service are transferable to retail careers. Because of this, NRF partnered with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families on a report, “Military Veterans in Retail: A Sound Business Decision.” Through conversations with Walmart, Disney and Starbucks, we compiled 10 recommendations for how the retail industry can utilize the untapped pool of skilled talent.

Lord & Taylor will launch a flagship store on Walmart.com. Expected to launch this spring, Walmart.com will introduce a specialized online experience offering premium fashion brands directly from the Lord & Taylor flagship.

Lyons Consulting Group, now part of the Capgemini Group, announced a partnership with Build-A-Bear Workshop. Build-A-Bear charged LYONSCG with helping the company completely re-imagine its digital experience, including ecommerce strategy, design and platform implementation services, and the launch of new sites for the U.S. and U.K. markets in October.

More than 30 new companies have signed contracts for 4Cite’s Consumer Insights Interaction Hub, including Adorama, Buy Auto Parts, Challah Connection, Odysseys Unlimited, Smith & Noble and Welding Supplies from IOC.

CGS, a global provider of business applications, enterprise learning and outsourcing services, announced that Eberjey, a women’s intimates and swimwear retailer, selected BlueCherry Product Lifecycle Management, an essential module within the BlueCherry Enterprise Suite of solutions, providing end-to-end capabilities for apparel and consumer lifestyle brands.

International shoe manufacturer and retailer Clarks has selected JDA to help with its retail planning and intelligent fulfillment as part of its global business transformation initiative.

Rosie, the online grocery shopping platform for mobile and web, announced the launch of Heeb’s East Main Grocery’s “Heeb’s Click’n Shop Powered by Rosie,” which will provide online grocery shopping for convenient curbside pickup or home delivery. Heeb’s East Main Grocery has been serving the Bozeman, Mont., community since 1947.

Fanzz, one of the largest sports apparel and merchandise providers in the U.S., has selected Kenco Logistics to provide logistics services from its 60,000-square-foot facility in Salt Lake City. These services include inbound transportation management, distribution to retail and direct-to-consumer, and parcel solutions across 120 Fanzz retail stores throughout the U.S. and online.