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First Edition

Dillard’s deploys mobile learning to keep employees in the know

It’s not hard to imagine the scenario: A pop star performs on an awards show, debuting a fabulous new makeup look. The next day, fans go in search of product recommendations and application techniques. They just might find them at Dillard’s.

Endear helps in-store staff become outbound retailing masters

The rise of ecommerce has shifted the retail landscape significantly over the years, but it’s still taking brands some time to cope with all of the changes. Many of today’s technology offerings focus on the ecommerce space, but “outbound retailing” platform Endear is intended to boost physical stores.

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.

Retailers stem returns with new rules and oversized tags

Despite fears of offending shoppers with strict return policies, retailers have begun combatting fraud using low-tech solutions like one-time-use tags that stop people from returning expensive items if removed and high-tech computer algorithms that identify serial returners.

Click-and-collect promises to link digital and physical

Finding the sweet spot within the intersection of digital and physical retail might be the most urgent priority for the retail industry. But identifying such a place — for instance, where an online customer can maintain a digital persona in or out of the physical store — has not always been easy amid the massive transformation occurring in the industry.

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.

Cut TCO by 15% on barcode devices

Retailers have relied on rugged handheld devices for over 30 years to boost efficiency and productivity. All along, devices have suffered from failures due to charging contacts that get dirty, corrode, or break. Wireless charging prevents device failure, drastically reducing TCO. An enterprise can easily reduce TCO by 15% or more deploying wireless charging devices.

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Trends

Groom zoom

Men on the receiving end of a proposal will want to look good while their true love is on bended knee — and every other moment. So male grooming and skin care adds another layer with a slow growth in male makeup.

A hipster Betty Crocker

While “moderation” may apply to drinking, it’s not the same with sweets. Millennials and Generation Z are also reviving a love of home-baked goods, according to The Atlantic. The magazine recently described a salted chocolate-chunk shortbread cookie that made the rounds of all the hippest potlucks — cribbed from chef Alison Roman’s “Dining In” cookbook.

What’s in a name?

When it comes to naming your child, you can follow the pack — or avoid it — with this list of anticipated most popular baby names for 2019. Using data from the Social Security Administration and data from its own site, Names.org suggests these top names will be among the most used.

NRF News

How Gap Inc.’s LP leader also helps preserve the planet

As executive vice president of loss prevention and global sustainability at Gap Inc., Keith White has a unique title and position: While protecting the company’s people and assets, he also takes care of the planet. White discusses emerging trends in the LP world and how Gap is taking corporate social responsibility to the next level on NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast.

How Generation Z approaches back-to-school shopping

Members of Generation Z are becoming more involved with back-to-school purchasing decisions rather than leaving the choices up to mom and dad, according to NRF’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. Among K-12 shoppers, teens are expected to spend an average $36.71 of their own money, up from $30.88 10 years ago, while pre-teens are expected to spend $26.40, up from $11.94. View more survey highlights.

Relationships included with every shopper interaction.

Your biggest successes are still ahead. But to get there, you’ll need to include something extra in every transaction: an awesome relationship. That’s where Salesforce has your back. It’s the world’s #1 engagement platform, helping you connect to your shoppers in a whole new way.

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Retail Deals

The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) has selected SupplyShift as its new partner and reporting platform for The Sustainability Insight System (THESIS) Index, formerly and most widely known as The Sustainability Index.

American retailer Bealls Inc. has turned to the Oracle Retail Cloud to modernize processes and gain new management efficiencies of its extensive inventory spanning casual lifestyle, apparel and home merchandise.

Kohl’s has selected Dsco as its platform for all drop ship suppliers on Kohls.com, allowing the retailer to increase the number of products available to customers on its site.

Green Growth Brands, a recognizable name in the cannabis industry, and its brand, Seventh Sense Botanical Therapy, have seen significant traction in mainstream retail through partnerships with Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, DSW, Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters.

RELEX Solutions, a provider of unified retail planning solutions, is partnering with AutoZone, a retailer and a leading distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States, to provide forecasting and replenishment solutions to AutoZone’s distribution centers.

Mi9 Retail, a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions for retailers, wholesalers and brands, is working with CitrusAd, a leading retail media platform, to allow retailers the ability to better monetize their digital real estate.

JDA Software Inc. recently worked with Walmart in the development and rollout of the retailer's new advanced scheduling system, deployed to more than 1.1 million of its associates across approximately 4,600 stores.