Performance Bicycle selects 3point5.com for online retail training

September 20, 2009

Performance Bicycle, the nation's largest specialty bike retailer, announced that it has selected 3point5.com to provide online training for its retail…

Roots Canada adds social commerce features to web site

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 31, 2009

Roots Canada, a leading Canadian lifestyle retailer, announced it has added social commerce features to its e-commerce site at www.roots.com. The product…

Jeweler draws in shoppers — with a fully stocked bar

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 25, 2009

Jeff Weiss and his partners have launched an unusual jewelry store in Albany, N.Y., where the emphasis is on more than just buying gems. The 7,000-square-foot…

NRF: Most families slacking off on back-to-school shopping

August 24, 2009

Though school bells in some areas of the country have already started to ring, most parents have a lot of shopping left to get kids ready for the classroom.

Sam's Club, eSoles taking footcare kiosks on cross-country tour

August 24, 2009

Sam's Club and eSoles Custom Footbeds are taking eSoles' 3D TruCapture kiosk scanning systems to Sam's locations across the United States in a series of "road…

Chico's adds live help to its e-tail sites

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 24, 2009

Chico's, which operates three online retail brands (www.chicos.com, www.soma.com and www.WhiteHouseBlackMarket.com), is adding an integrated live help…

Luxury retailers need to personalize the online experience

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 13, 2009

Shopping a luxury retailer is a singular experience — the setting, the products, the (hopefully) excellent service. But most of those things go away when…

Thomas Pink, Warehouse merge channels with BT

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 12, 2009

British luxury shirt maker Thomas Pink and high-street retailer Warehouse have implemented the BT Expedite multi-channel solution to link their online and…

Microsoft unveils retail store logo

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 9, 2009

Late last month, Microsoft filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect the image you see at the right. The class status for the…

Best Buy turns Sunday circulars into interactive 3D demos

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 6, 2009

Electronics retailer Best Buy has quietly unveiled a new interactive domain, www.BestBuyin3D.com, which turns the company's Sunday circulars into impressive…

Zytronic bringing interactive retail deployment to Asia

August 5, 2009

U.K.-based Zytronic, a display technology manufacturer, has announced its selection by digital media company Yeahpoint for an interactive project with…

Luxury retailers expanding the reach of their 'secret sales'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

August 2, 2009

The New York Times reports on the growing incidence of luxury retailers taking their "secret sales" and making them not-so-secret, in order to actually move…

Hardware retailer seeks to boost profits with digital signage

July 30, 2009

Scandinavia's largest hardware store chain, XL-BYG, has announced the launch of a digital signage network in its stores after a three-month trial revealed…

Opinion: IKEA is the 'least sustainable retailer on the planet'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 26, 2009

Ellen Ruppel Shell, contributing editor to The Atlantic and author of "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," has published a scathing indictment of…

Pop-up shops becoming mainstream

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 23, 2009

The Economist has published a brief exploration of the concept of pop-up shops, temporary stores set up by retailers in unexpected locations — from abandoned…

Borders adding teen sections, taking real estate away from music/DVD departments

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 21, 2009

Borders, the second largest bookstore chain in the United States, is taking away some floor space from its music and DVD departments in order to build new…

AT&T completes makeover of 2,200 retail locations

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 20, 2009

The Apple Insider blog reports that the massive makeover of more than 2,200 AT&T U.S. retail locations is complete. The stores now offer netbooks in…

Retailers taking 'Christmas in July' more seriously this year

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 15, 2009

The concept of "Christmas in July" is more than 100 years old, but this year especially it looks like retailers are using the poor economy to suggest to…

Higher-income shoppers embracing rent-to-own stores

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 12, 2009

Here's a surprising consequence of the faltering economy: The rent-to-own segment is performing very well, bringing in new customers that likely would have…

New research dissects what makes a 'wow experience'

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

July 8, 2009

A new survey from The Verde Group and the Retail Council of Canada says that most shoppers — just slightly more than 50 percent — have had a great retail…