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First Edition

Online retailers make in-person connections through product deliveries and returns

Designer handbag brand Dagne Dover prides itself on offering thoughtful solutions for time-starved consumers, preventing pain points before they’re even recognized. So when Narvar approached the company about a beta test for its new Concierge service, the offer was as uniquely appealing as Dagne Dover’s coated canvas tote.

No stuffed shirts

Menswear brand Charles Tyrwhitt launched in 1986 because the founder believed he “could make a shirt better than anyone else.” Its first store opened in London in 1987 and the company now has 40 stores in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. CEO Luke Kingsnorth joined the retailer in 2010 as ecommerce director and became head of ecommerce and marketing in 2012.

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.

Fully automated, AI-powered access to a community of complementary brands

Developing partnerships with firms that complement their own offerings and customer bases often can help companies boost their brand recognition and markets. Arranging these partnerships can be time-consuming, however, requiring multiple contacts to ensure an appropriate fit and map out logistics.

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

Drink it up, 50-plus: This one’s for you

While everyone else is still trying to reach millennials and Generation Z, a new plant-based milk has set its sights on the older crowd instead: Perennial strategically targets those who are over 50. It promises vitamins and nutrients to support brain, bone and digestive health.

Restaurant nibbles away at prices to reduce food waste

Toronto restaurant Farmhouse Tavern takes a creative approach to the end of the weekend by pairing it with end-of the-night leftover food and wine. Food & Environment Reporting Network recently featured the restaurant’s promotion, with hourly discounts aimed at bringing in crowds on Sunday nights.

NRF News

How Lilly Pulitzer keeps it fresh

A piece of Lilly Pulitzer apparel is immediately recognizable: Its vibrant prints have been known to customers for 60 years. President Michelle Kelly joins NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast to talk about how the iconic brand stays relevant and uses the “love of Lilly” to bring people together. Listen and subscribe.

New study says more retailers are opening stores than closing them

For every segment of retail, there are more companies opening stores than closing them. A new report from IHL Group points out that for each company closing stores, 5.2 are opening stores. “Retail stores are definitely not going away,” NRF Vice President for Research Development and Industry Analysis Mark Mathews writes. Read more.

DSW on making every loyalty member feel like a VIP

DSW’s loyalty program started 30 years ago and has grown to more than 26 million members. But while the program has been successful, it was time to evolve. At the NRF NXT conference in Las Vegas, DSW’s Julie Roy and Brian Seewald discussed why the company redesigned the program to become highly personalized and to offer a three-tier reward structure. Read more.

Your Stores Deserve Champions!

With a mobile-first user experience, Capango eliminates the need for resumes by capturing data points about the Seeker—such as location, availability, interests, and skill sets—in just a few taps. By automatically matching Seekers with jobs based on tags selected when creating a job posting, Capango helps employers get one step closer to finding the perfect hire.

Find the Right Hires!

Retail Deals

AT&T and Badger Technologies, a product division of Jabil, are working together to accelerate retail automation using autonomous robots with 5G wireless networking capabilities.

Food Lion has unveiled a new, easier shopping experience for customers in 14 towns and cities throughout the greater Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, Va., markets, including remodeling the stores, hiring 400 additional associates and giving back to local communities.

Sleep Country Canada Inc. and SnapPay Inc., a leading provider of alternate payment solutions, are launching the first phase of a pilot program, enabling Chinese consumers to pay with popular mobile payments applications Alipay and WeChat Pay, at 21 store locations in the Greater Toronto area and Greater Vancouver Area.

Tmall, a business operated by Alibaba Group, is partnering with New York Fashion Week: The Shows, bringing both top and emerging Chinese designers to NYFW this fall, as part of Tmall’s commitment to cultivate fashion talent and the growing creative culture in China.

Global fashion retail conglomerate Apparel Group has selected Oracle to help meet its long-term strategic, financial and operational goals by streamlining processes across departments, launching new brands and expanding into different geographies.

Thrive Market, a membership-based ecommerce retailer, has partnered with RELEX Solutions to integrate and improve its supply chain, including demand forecasting, replenishment, allocations and promotion forecasting.