Stores Weekly

With roots in bartering and even student and senior discounts, a pricing system based on individual customer behavior or characteristics provides great opportunities to strengthen relationships with shoppers. Personalized pricing has its challenges, though, including inventory management and the ability to integrate customer data across channels.

Visit http://stores.org/2017/08/14/personalized-pricing/ to view the full article online.

“The sales associate of the future has to be more than just operationally proficient,” says Simon Turner, co-founder of online learning and knowledge platform Myagi. With a laser focus on retail, Myagi uses machine learning to deliver the right training content to the right associate at the right time.

Visit http://stores.org/2017/08/14/the-right-training-at-the-right-time/ to view the full article online.

With locations in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and the southwestern United States, as well as a robust online presence, Devlyn Optical’s customers were becoming frustrated about the lack of inventory transparency. When in-store inventory was exposed on a new system from Magneto, online conversion rates increased 150 percent over the previous year.

Visit http://stores.org/2017/08/15/the-eyes-have-it/ to view the full article online.

Working with universities in Brazil and the U.S., petrochemical company Braskem is helping tackle the challenge of food waste. The company’s food packaging can detect alterations in pH and changes color to alert consumers to spoilage.

Visit http://stores.org/2017/08/16/taking-another-look-food-freshness/ to view the full article online.

Triggered campaign emails comprised less than 7 percent of total emails sent in the first quarter of 2017, according to Yes Lifecyle Marketing, yet they generated almost five times the click rate of “business-as-usual” emails.

Visit http://stores.org/2017/08/16/subject-line-email-marketing-success/ to view the full article online.

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.

Visit https://www.naylornetwork.com/nrf-nwl/articles/index.asp?aid=457246&issueID=56508 to view the full article online.

Retail sales in July increased by 0.6 percent over June on a seasonally adjusted basis, triple the revised 0.2 percent growth seen in June, according to NRF’s calculations, which exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants. “We have yet to see the full effect of back-to-school spending, but pickup in spending was evident both online and in general merchandise, which includes bricks-and-mortar department stores,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said.

Visit https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/retail-sales-rebound-july-35-percent-over-2016 to view the full article online.

Myles Powell started selling his 8 Myles line of gourmet sauces and seasonings at local neighborhood farmers’ markets, but today he is well on his way to national distribution through deals with Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma. On this week’s episode of NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast, Powell shares the juicy details of how he developed 8 Myles and how hard he is working to put his product on retail shelves.

Visit https://nrf.com/news/the-secret-sauce-small-biz-success to view the full article online.

At the NRFtech 2017 conference, best-selling author Erik Qualman explored evolving technologies that are empowering retailers to be disruptive — or risk becoming disrupted. Qualman challenged attendees to see these guidelines as a starting point to develop habits that can inspire innovation from within.

Visit https://nrf.com/news/erik-qualmans-5-ways-design-culture-of-innovation to view the full article online.

Lowe’s, one of the world’s largest home improvement companies, has selected a prepaid payment solution from FIS, a global leader in financial services and payment technology, to provide new levels of service and convenience to its professional customers. Lowe’s new payment solution, Lowe’s PreLoad, uses the FIS BizNOW prepaid solution to provide contractors, construction professionals and other businesses the ability to purchase job-site equipment and other necessities without the need for personal or corporate cards.

 

Watch Station International, a leader in timepiece retailing, is teaming up with Shopkick, a leading shopping rewards app. Watch Station, part of the Fossil Group, uses Shopkick’s technology to reward shoppers with “kicks” for frequenting and making purchases in all 35 U.S. retail stores, target location-aware messages to greet and engage customers via Shopkick’s ShopBeacons and drive incremental foot traffic, sales and a more personal relationship with customers.

 

Perfect Corp. is partnering with the nationally accredited Hollywood Institute of Beauty Careers in Florida. The partnership integrates YouCam Makeup’s augmented reality live streaming into the professional training curriculum, empowering the next generation of beauty professionals with YouCam’s award-winning technology and offering them the opportunity to become the next big social influencer.

 

VF Corporation, a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories, and Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co., a family-owned, private global workwear company, have signed a definitive merger agreement. The transaction is expected to be completed early in the fourth quarter of this year; VF will pay Williamson-Dickie shareholders approximately $820 million in cash.

 

Pottery Barn, a member of the Williams-Sonoma Inc. portfolio of brands, unveiled the brand’s first collection with fashion duo Emily Current and Meritt Elliott (‘Emily + Meritt’), joining sister brands PBteen and Pottery Barn Kids in partnership with the Los Angeles-based designers. The Emily + Meritt collection mixes Pottery Barn’s classic lines and casual, stylish aesthetic with playful, Americana charm to create tabletop accessories, decorative accents, select furniture and bedding.

 

Alipay, one of the world’s leading digital payment platforms, and Yelp Inc., the company that connects consumers with great local businesses, have partnered to bring Yelp’s local content to millions of Chinese travelers directly within Alipay’s mobile lifestyle app. With the beta launch, any of Alipay’s more than 520 million users visiting New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco can now easily discover, plan, make reservations and share authentic experiences at any local business using Yelp’s rich content. Additional cities and countries will be added in 2017.