Retail

Macy’s to Go Big, Stay (Near) Home
January 26, 2015

Macy’s Inc. is moving on up in the direct-to-consumer-fulfillment world, but not too far. The company’s omnichannel strategy has been so successful in driving sales growth that it is compelling a move from its fulfillment center in West Sacramento, California to larger digs in nearby...

China’s $2T E-Commerce Market
January 26, 2015

A new government report said China’s e-commerce markets racked up 13 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) in transactions in 2014, up 25 percent from 2013, Nikkei Asian Review reported. The numbers from China’s Ministry of Commerce include online B2B transactions along with sales from online retailers...

Mobile
Convenience Store Chain Wawa Launches Its Own Mobile Payments
January 26, 2015

Giant coffee chains Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts may have rolled out their mobile payment and loyalty apps nationwide, but that’s no reason regional chains can’t get in on the action, too. East Coast convenience store chain Wawa has launched its own mobile app featuring gift-card-based...

Organic Delivery Startup Good Eggs Lays Off 15 Percent
January 26, 2015

Organic food delivery startup Good Eggs, which collected a $21 million funding round last September, has laid off 15 percent of its roughly 215 employees, TechCrunch reported. The layoffs last week came shortly after the San Francisco company hired former Netflix and Clinkle executive Andy...

Mobile
Bitcoin Goes Mainstream In Braintree Beta Test
January 23, 2015

Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency whose supporters like to think of it as anything but ordinary, may have just gained its best chance at widespread acceptance — by being just one of the boys. Braintree, eBay’s mobile-friendly payments-processing subsidiary, said on Thursday (Jan. 22) that it has...

Mobile
Button Pulls In $12M To Build Its On-Demand Service Network
January 23, 2015

On-demand commerce startup Button, which just launched in October, has now pulled in $12 million to build out its network of on-demand services and its recommendation capabilities, according to VentureBeat. The Series A round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Greycroft, DCM, VaynerRSE,...

It’s All About Mobile Engagement
January 23, 2015

Mobile commerce’s share will climb to 40 percent of all e-commerce transactions worldwide in 2015, and mobile will also push cross-device sales above its current 15-to-20-percent range, according to a new report from e-commerce marketing tech vendor Criteo. And while no one is about to...

Loyalty & Rewards
GameStop Uses Beacons And Big Screens To Get Millennials Buying
January 22, 2015

Videogame retailer GameStop is fighting back against online shopping with beacons that stream game content directly to customers’ smartphones when they’re in a store, according to The Wall Street Journal. The chainwide store upgrade, which is expected to start rolling out in Q2 to the...

Mobile
In-store Wi-Fi Boosts Customer Loyalty 28 Percent
January 22, 2015

Customers really do appreciate free Wi-Fi, it seems. A new study by IHL Group found that 28 percent of retailers who added in-store Wi-Fi said they got a boost in customer loyalty. That may not qualify as a competitive advantage, though. The survey also found...