Sat.Apr 24, 2021 - Fri.Apr 30, 2021

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One year on from Covid, garment workers remain in crisis

Inside Retail

Garment workers, who were some of the first people to feel the impact of Covid-19 when China shut its factories in February 2020, are still bearing the brunt of the pandemic over one year later. The last two weeks have seen local governments in some of the world’s biggest garment manufacturing hubs, including India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, reinstate lockdowns amidst surging case numbers, even as life begins to return to normal in countries like the US and UK.

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How the pandemic changed retail supply chains

Retail Dive

As the global health crisis sent e-commerce orders surging, retailers scrambled to adapt their operations to serve a more digital era.

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Harrods open second beauty emporium H beauty in Milton Keynes

Retail Focus

Following the launch of its inaugural store in Lakeside, Essex in September 2020, Harrods has announced the opening of its next stand-alone H beauty destination in centre:mk, Milton Keynes. The 29,000 sq.ft. space brings together a diverse portfolio of premium brands, must-have products and exceptional beauty services and experiences. The latest H beauty is an experiential wonderland where beauty addicts and novices alike can find their forever-favourites as well as some of the industry’s most f

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How (and Why) Amazon is Sharing its Tech with Retailers Around the World

Retail TouchPoints

Amazon is well known for being one of the largest retailers in the world. What’s less well-known is that thousands of other retailers are using Amazon technology to power their businesses. That’s right, this quintessential ecommerce disruptor, often blamed for the troubles of brick-and-mortar retail, is taking some of the very innovations that have set it apart and offering them up for other retailers to use.

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5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales

Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.

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Booktopia earnings double in third quarter

Inside Retail

The continued rise in online shopping has delivered online bookseller Booktopia another strong period, with third quarter underlying EBITDA up 267 per cent to $4.2 million and revenue hitting $65 million – a 53 per cent growth on the same period last year. And, due to improvements made in Booktopia’s distribution centre in Lidcome , Sydney, the business was able to ship 45 per cent more product during the quarter, from 1.44 million to 2.09 million items.

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Walmart remains opposed to $15 minimum wage

Retail Wire

Walmart has seen the public’s perceptions of the company improve as it has increased pay and educational and medical benefits for its workers, but the world’s largest retailer’s opposition to raising the federal minimum wage to $15 has some questioning if its labor-friendly initiatives are just window dressing. The retailer, which has consistently claimed that its average wage for hourly associates is above the $15 number, says that its approach needs to be viewed through a dif

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House of Novogratz Debuts First Store

Retail TouchPoints

House of Novogratz — the first store from interior designers Robert and Cortney Novogratz — debuted in Los Angeles on April 10. Located in a bungalow-style house, the store boasts more than 2,000 square feet of retail experiences in six different rooms, as well as working design studios, collaborative brands, rotating pop-up activations and a food and wine offering.

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Woolworths to recycle batteries, mobile phones

Inside Retail

Supermarket Woolworths is further hastening its consumer-facing sustainable initiatives by announcing a battery recycling initiative, with collection units to be placed in every Woolworths store around the country. The units will accept used batteries, as well as mobile phones, in an effort to bump up Australia’s rate of battery recycling – which currently sits at around 10 per cent, lagging behind other developed nations.

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Retailers pass along CPG price increases

Retail Wire

A wide variety of consumer packaged goods manufacturers, including those making cereal, disposable diapers and toilet paper, are raising prices. Retailers, in the past, might have absorbed or only passed through a portion of those increases to their customers. That has not been the case during the pandemic with price increases tied to a variety of factors beyond the control of trading partners.

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Retail Sales Incentive Programs

Retail Focus

Retail sales incentive programs are an excellent way for retailers to reward their most valuable assets—their employees—by showing tangible gratitude. There has been a lot of talk lately about how customer service and retail jobs are on the decline. And while that may be true, it doesn’t mean retailers can’t do anything to show their appreciation for the hard work done by their most valuable assets: the store’s sales associates.

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The Evolving Retailers Fulfillment Strategy: Meeting Demands with Agility

Speaker: Becky Parisotto and John Vurdelja

Fulfillment is no longer just about getting products from point A to point B – it's about crafting seamless, scalable, customer first experiences. Flexible fulfillment strategies are more important than ever for those aiming to stay ahead and build resilience as retail enters a new era in 2025. Learn how to optimize fulfillment processes, tackle complex, multi-vendor orders, and create seamless customer experiences – from white-glove delivery for high-value items to quick-ship solutions for ever

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Luxury Subscription Service Vivrelle Bags $26M in Series A Funding

Retail TouchPoints

Membership club Vivrelle , which provides access to a shared closet of designer handbags, jewelry and diamonds, has secured $26 million in Series A funding. The subscription service, founded by husband and wife team Blake and Wayne Geffen in 2018, allows members to keep items as long as they want, or swap them out monthly. Members also receive exclusive discounts on products they decide to buy.

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Amazon expands parcel pick up network to Western Australia

Inside Retail

Amazon Australia has today launched its Amazon Hub parcel pick up network in Perth, and added hundreds of new locations across existing networks in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The expansion of its pick up network comes after the surge of Australians having tried online shopping for the first time during the Covid-19 crisis, with the network now available at more than 750 locations across the country.

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Amazon raising pay for 500K workers

Retail Wire

Amazon.com announced it will raise wages for 500,000 workers by between 50 cents and $3 an hour. The announcement came about as a result of Amazon’s decision to move up its fall pay review. Raises will begin rolling out to workers beginning in May and are expected to build on Amazon’s recruitment efforts. The retail and technology giant has said that it does not plan to raise its $15 an hour minimum wage.

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Tommy Hilfiger opens new store at Lakeside

Retail Focus

Lakeside, one of the UK’s most popular retail and leisure destinations, owned by property company SGS, is pleased to announce that Tommy Hilfiger has signed to open a new store at the centre. The leading fashion name has taken on a 2,448 sq ft space, with a menswear and womenswear offering. The store joins an exciting line-up of over 300 brands, including Apple, Zara, Mac, H&M, Hugo Boss and Superdry.

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Modernizing the Frontend Experience on Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Unlock agility, boost performance, and gain control over your Salesforce frontend with the latest masterclass from Composable.com : Modernizing the Frontend Experience on Salesforce Commerce Cloud Featuring experts from Algolia, Ember, Netlify, and Stripe, this masterclass focuses on practical strategies for optimizing your Salesforce Commerce Cloud storefronts using modern composable commerce integrations.

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Retail Strategy Tune-Up Time: Let’s Start with Pricing

Retail TouchPoints

For years, retailers have faced accelerating pressures on margins and profits as competition proliferated both online and in brick-and-mortar, as shoppers grew less loyal and as complete price transparency became the norm. The global onset of the pandemic further accelerated the speed and depth of transformation in the retail landscape as shoppers flocked online, supply chains were crippled, shopper price sensitivity soared and shopper baskets changed dramatically.

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Shopify brings social commerce to Pinterest Australia

Inside Retail

Pinterest and Shopify will extend their partnership to a further 27 countries, including Australia, in a move expected to making social commerce easier on the platform. The partnership will enable Australian businesses to easily bring products to Pinterest and make them shoppable, and allows market-specific feeds, meaning the discovery platform can be used as an online catalogue for brands to show off different products in different markets.

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Chlorine shortage could muddy summer pool season

Retail Wire

A boom in swimming pool installations and a plant fire in Louisiana have contributed to a nationwide shortage of chlorine. Swimming pool owners are finding that the price of chlorine tablets has more than doubled since last year.

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New Sky shop to open at Buchanan Street, Glasgow

Retail Focus

Hines, the international real estate firm has announced that Sky, Europe’s leading media and entertainment company, has chosen to open one of its first bricks and mortar retail shops at 229-249 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. Opening on 6th May, the new Sky shop will occupy a 2,500 square feet unit and bring together Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband and Sky TV all in one place.

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Website Security Essentials: Protect Your Site and Strengthen Cybersecurity

In a digital-first world, website security is non-negotiable. This comprehensive guide explores the critical importance of securing your site against hackers and vulnerabilities like SQL injection, XSS, and malware. Discover tools like SiteLock for threat monitoring and CodeGuard for seamless backups, ensuring robust protection for your data and operations.

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PDI Buys GasBuddy, Plans Expanded Promotion Capabilities for the Mobile App

Retail TouchPoints

PDI , a global provider of enterprise management software for the convenience and fuel industries, has purchased the GasBuddy mobile app, which drivers use to find and share real-time fuel prices. The app has 5 million active mobile users, representing billions of fuel gallons and hundreds of millions of dollars of convenience retail spend. The solution provider plans to expand the app’s current offerings to help c-stores attract new customers by receiving offers funded by CPG companies and stre

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How this former Mercedes-Benz exec was inspired to launch her own start-up

Inside Retail

Like many talented industry professionals last year, Uniek founder Katherine Gracey was motivated to finally take the plunge and launch her own loungewear direct-to-consumer business. Here, we chat with the former head of marketing at Mercedes-Benz about what she learnt from the auto brand, her favourite retailers and why diversity and inclusion are at the heart of her start-up.

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Allbirds mulls going public

Retail Wire

Allbirds, the direct-to-consumer sneaker brand, is considering filing for an initial public offering as investor interest is high. The company, which features shoes made from merino wool, is a favorite among environmentally conscious consumers. Allbirds’ sneakers require 60 percent less energy to make than synthetic rivals. The company was last valued at around $1.7 billion.

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Experimental Perfume Club selects Seven Dials for flagship boutique & laboratory

Retail Focus

Shaftesbury has announced that Experimental Perfume Club (EPC), renowned for its educational and experiential approach to perfumery, has opened the doors to its first ever ‘lab-boutique’ at 53 Monmouth Street in Seven Dials. . Spanning 550 sq ft, the multi-faceted space serves as EPC’s flagship and offers an environment that empowers consumers to explore, understand and create their own fragrance. .

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10 Ways to Leverage Buyer Signals and Drive Revenue

In today’s ultra-competitive markets, it’s no longer enough to wait for buyers to show obvious signs of interest. Instead, sales teams must be proactive, identifying and acting on nuanced buyer behaviors — often before prospects are fully ready to make a purchase. In this eBook from ZoomInfo & Sell Better, learn 10 actionable ways to use these buyer signals to transform your sales strategy and close deals faster.

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Free Market Brings its Experiential Collective Concept to L.A.

Retail TouchPoints

Free Market , a modern retail collective of curated brands, restaurants and experiences, will open at Runway Playa Vista in Los Angeles as one of the property’s anchor tenants on May 1. The experiential collective is part retail, part brand incubator, and was designed by Los Angeles-based architects Design, B **s. Just like its flagship location in downtown Denver, Free Market Playa Vista will serve as a retail hub for high-end pop-up and permanent shops, each curated to appeal to the digitally

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How Amazon more than tripled its profits in Q1

Inside Retail

Amazon.com has posted its fourth straight quarter of record profits, thanks to the global shift to online shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic. . The US company revealed in an earnings update on Thursday that it had more than tripled its profits to US$8.1 billion on sales of US$108.5 billion in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, outperforming analyst expectations.

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Algorithms vs. humans: Who's better at predicting fashion trends?

Retail Dive

These days data is plentiful, useful and fast. But some in the industry warn that old fashioned merchants are undervalued at a crucial time.

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Leeds United dial up the drama in football club store

Retail Focus

Whilst LUFC have been hoping for a winning streak that would shoot them to the top of the table before the end of the season, Design4Retail (D4R) have been busy elevating the Elland Rd club store in collaboration with LUFC’s kit provider, adidas, in time for the reopening of retail on 12 th April. The main task was to e nhance the customer journey via the implementation of several touchpoints that would dial up the drama for brand-led fan engagement.

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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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First Quarter Feedback for Grocery Retail: Insights from the Start of 2021

Retail TouchPoints

Besides trying to keep their stores sufficiently stocked, the biggest challenge for many grocery retailers in 2020 was trying to determine what shopper behaviors would remain in place post-pandemic. And while it’s premature to reference the COVID-19 crisis in the past tense, Inmar’s most recent Intelligence Shopper Insights Study provides clear insight into what marketers can expect in the months ahead, as the grocery industry settles further into the much anticipated “new normal.”.

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Analysis: M&A refocuses in the time of coronavirus

Inside Retail

In the past few years, trading conditions have been harsh for the retailing landscape, and 2020 certainly added extra pressure for most. The impact of Covid-19 has left many consumers with fewer reasons to shop and even fewer ways of doing so. With the onset of the global pandemic, many retailers were struggling to reach their customers. For some, it was due to a lack of e-commerce capability, logistics infrastructure or newly irrelevant products and services.

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Stop Reading From The Script!

Hyken

This is why some companies get a bad rap! Our colleague here at Shepard Presentations, Nate Jones, shared a story about something that recently happened to his father. This is a great customer service training lesson. He bought a new car. About a month later he’s in a parking lot and the car won’t start. So, he calls the dealership’s customer service number, which was actually a support center for all of that brand’s dealerships in the U.S. – maybe even the world.

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No time like the present: Debut Welsh store for Breitling at St David’s

Retail Focus

The St David’s Partnership, owners of St David’s Cardiff, has announced the opening of a new 870 sq ft store for Breitling , the Swiss luxury technical watch brand, its first stand-alone boutique in Wales. . The Watches of Switzerland Group have launched the new Breitling store, opposite L’Occitane and Kiehls on the Hayes Arcade, in-line with the re-opening of non-essential retail in Wales.

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Is Your Business AI-Ready? Find Out with Orium’s Maturity Model

Generative AI is poised to redefine B2B, but scaling AI success in this space isn’t without obstacles. From fragmented data sources and complex buyer journeys to operational inefficiencies, the road to AI-powered growth can be challenging. To achieve a competitive edge, understanding your organization’s AI-readiness is essential. Orium's Data & AI Maturity Model provides a quick, actionable way to assess your starting point.