Stores Weekly

Archive | Printer Friendly | Send to a Friend | stores.org

First Edition

Conversational commerce tools return 1-800-Flowers to its origins

With conversational commerce mushrooming throughout the retail world, it surely must have the feel of déjà vu for the iconic 1-800-Flowers.com brand. Founded in 1976 and branded with its workhorse 1-800-Flowers phone number in 1986, the company can point to its penchant for speaking directly to its customers as a reason for its longevity — first through the phone and then across the internet.

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.

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.

Download the White Paper

Trends

New ideas in old items

Luxury, collectible and luggage aren’t often three words that align. But with an increased desire for travel, new brands might just shake up some staid industries. Two examples from the world of luggage come to mind.

Home décor for the ages at The Home Depot

It wasn’t that long ago that studies were highlighting a decline in home ownership among millennials. For some, it might have brought a raised eyebrow or shoulder shrug. For others like The Home Depot, however, it was worth further discussion — and, apparently, an innovative plan.

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.

NRF News

The state of the economy heading into the holidays

NRF forecasts that 2019 holiday sales will grow between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over 2018 to between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion. NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz joins this episode of NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast to discuss what's behind those numbers and the state of the economy heading into the holidays.

Turning work mistakes into career stepping stones

Everyone makes mistakes at work, but these missteps can also be opportunities to grow and learn. In this LinkedIn post, NRF President and CEO Matt Shay writes about three professional mistakes he made with three key groups of people — colleagues, bosses and clients — and the lessons learned from each.

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!

The FQ Lounge is coming back to NRF Vision 2020: Retail’s Big Show

In partnership with The Female Quotient, The FQ Lounge is a destination that brings together women to connect, collaborate, learn and activate change. Lounge attendees will hear exclusive Q&As and have access to networking areas and special experiences including free professional headshots.

Retail Deals

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer Meijer is partnering with intralogistics pioneer Dematic as the company’s first micro-fulfillment installation, which will help the retailer maximize previously under-utilized spaces for order fulfillment, allow for quicker fulfillment and delivery of online and in-store orders and retain control of its data.

PCMS, a leading global provider of retail commerce software and services, is helping Lakeland launch its first loyalty club, myLakeland.

Ferrero USA, the confectionery company known in the United States for Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder and Tic Tac, has selected Alloy for digital supply chain management.

Increasing Conversion with Localized Marketing

While everyone acknowledges in-store conversion is key to success, how best to optimize localized retail operations to drive customer engagement and conversion is less straightforward. As consumer behavior and preferences evolve, brick and mortar stores must be one step ahead in evolving with them, adjusting store specific strategies and execution accordingly. By leveraging technology to personalize products and messaging, retailers can have targeted conversations with customers that drive conversion.

5 Star Nutrition has converted to Ordergroove, the leader in relationship commerce, to advance its subscription program and improve the shopping experience in order to scale recurring customer relationships and revenue.

Standard Cognition, which is building the next interface of retail, has acquired the assets of DeepMagic, a New York-based startup focused on unattended, automated retail.

Leading convenience store brand Circle K is now offering delivery from nearly 600 of its locations across Texas via its partnership with on-demand delivery company Favor.

Beginning in early November, FedEx Corp. will make it easier for consumers to drop off returns at thousands of Walgreens stores nationwide through FedEx Returns Technology, a solution for simplifying returns that is already available at 1,900 FedEx Office locations.