To minimize shoplifting, retailers lock up or chain down valuable merchandise from electronics and hardware to cookware and high-end jeans. That, of course, makes evaluating these desirable products more difficult, often resulting in customer annoyance and lost sales.

Much of ecommerce today revolves around the shipping game. To reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction, natural products retailer Grove Collaborative turned to GrandCanals and its Fulfillment Intelligence Cloud platform. 

NRF is proud to provide our members with the online Retail Buying Guide to search for trusted vendors, products and services in the retail industry. Our guide is a user-friendly forum designed to bring suppliers and purchasers together. You can search by keyword, location, company name or category. Available whenever you need it, the Retail Buying Guide makes it easy to locate products and professional services geared to the retail industry. Click here to visit the online Retail Buying Guide! To advertise, please contact Sarah Allen for more information.

Need proof of the need to invest more resources into social? If the Millennial woman is your target demographic, here’s some data to note: In a recent survey, 81 percent said that social media is the most effective way to reach them. And of those women, 40 percent said Instagram is the most effective platform to get their attention.

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.

Ahead of a busy week on trade in Washington, NRF launched a TV and digital ad campaign to educate Americans on how tariffs are bad economics. In the ad, economist and actor Ben Stein recreates a scene from the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in which he lectures students on the negative impact of tariffs on consumers and the economy.

Henrik Werdelin and his co-founders at BARK, the makers of BarkBox, bonded over a mutual love for dogs and an obsession with making their furry family members happy. On this week’s episode of NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast, Werdelin talks with NRF about how BARK’s dog-obsessed culture drives every facet of the business and attracts an army of similarly obsessed fans.

As technology and consumer behavior evolve, the boundaries of retail are being redefined. Register for NRF’s annual Shop.org conference and hear about trends that are transforming the industry, from unexpected partnerships to blockchain to artificial intelligence, innovations in mobile and more. Register by Friday to secure the lowest early rate.

Oracle announced that one of Ecuador's largest retailers, Corporación GPF, has implemented Oracle Retail Merchandising and Oracle Retail Warehouse Management as part of a continued strategy to deliver innovative health and wellness solutions to consumers.

ShipBob, a technology company that streamlines fulfillment for ecommerce businesses, announced a partnership with Squarespace, the leading all-in-one web publishing platform, to support Squarespace's online store customers with order fulfillment.

Pizza Hut, a division of Yum! Brands Inc. and the world’s largest pizza restaurant company with nearly 17,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, and Telepizza Group, the largest non-U.S. pizza delivery company worldwide with more than 1,600 stores in over 20 countries, announced a strategic deal and master franchise alliance to accelerate growth across Latin America (excluding Brazil), the Caribbean, Spain (including Andorra), Portugal and Switzerland.

dunnhumby, a leading customer data science company, has acquired Aptaris Software, a leading enterprise marketing and promotions management company. The acquisition is the culmination of a strategic partnership that embedded dunnhumby customer data science into the Aptaris solution, providing retailers with the only end-to-end promotions management platform in the market.

Amazon Web Services Inc., an Amazon.com company, announced that Verizon Communications has selected AWS as its preferred public cloud provider. Verizon is migrating over 1,000 business-critical applications and database backend systems to AWS, several of which also include the migration of production databases to Amazon Aurora — AWS’s relational database engine that combines the speed and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.

Synchrony announced a definitive agreement to acquire Loop Commerce, a technology leader in digital and in-store gifting services, with its award-winning and patented GiftNow platform and service. The acquisition will help diversify Synchrony’s business, broaden its reach, provide more strategic value and capabilities for partners, and deepen its technology portfolio.

Leading women’s lifestyle brand FabFitFun announced a collaboration with Erica Domesek of “P.S. - I Made This…” to create a line of DIY kits that will be sold on FabFitFun.com.

Geneva Watch Group announced a partnership with Timex Group to distribute Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction and Unlisted timepieces in Canada.