| Global retail industry news |  |
| Global Industry Watch |  |  |
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- Canadian contact lens retailer opens 1st physical shop
Vancouver-based online contact lens retailer Coastal Contacts, which operates as ClearlyContacts.ca in Canada and Coastal.com in the US, has opened its first brick-and-mortar store, which it plans to use as a testing ground. "There’s only so much you can learn from surveys and focus groups," said marketing VP Aaron Magness. Canadian Business
(08 Feb.)     
| Retail in Europe | | |
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| Retail in Asia | | |
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- UK's Argos launches online in China
Argos has launched an e-commerce site in China as the result of a joint venture between UK-based parent Home Retail Group and Chinese electronics brand Haier. The new site sells a diverse array of products, including electronics, and visitors to Haier's site are now directed to the new Argos site. Retail Digital
(12 Feb.)
| E-commerce Spotlight | | |
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- Online discounters challenge China's beauty market
Websites including Taobao, Jumei.com and 360buy.com have been grabbing an increasingly bigger share of China's $24 billion cosmetics market, taking a toll on rivals including Avon. Sephora, which recently closed some stores in China, is gearing to roll out a revamped e-commerce site there this year. The Wall Street Journal
(10 Feb.)
| Technology Solutions | | |
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- Startup to debut one-click payment app
A UK-based startup called Paddle plans to launch a mobile application in the next few weeks it says will make paying for online purchases easier and safer. Users would store their payment information in the app, and online retailers would add a payment button that links to a QR code shoppers would scan at checkout. Online retailer My Wardrobe has signed up for the service, and Marks & Spencer plans to test it in-house, said Paddle founder Ed Lea. Pocket-Lint.com (U.K.)
(08 Feb.)
| Spotlight on Grocery | | |
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- Horsemeat scandal may head to the courts
European consumers who bought beef products that turned out to contain horse meat and the brands that supplied them are likely to begin filing lawsuits this week. Findus subsidiaries in the UK, France and Sweden said they're gearing up to sue suppliers that provided the meat, the company said over the weekend. The Guardian (London)
(11 Feb.), The Grocer (U.K.)
(10 Feb.)
- Are digital shelf tags next?
A typical supermarket changes the price of about 10,000 items each week, a daunting challenge for workers tasked with making sure the shelf price matches with what's in the computer. San Jose, Calif.-based Altierre has spent a decade developing the technology to power digital shelf tags that change with the computer. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)
(09 Feb.)
| NRF News | | |
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- US retail container imports to rise 8.5% in February
The nation's major retail container ports should see a steady rise in traffic this month despite unresolved labor contracts on both coasts. According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report by NRF and Hackett Associates, major US retail container ports are expected to show an increase of more than 8% from the same month last year, with retailers keeping a close watch on a new East Coast-Gulf Coast contract that is awaiting ratification and a contract at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that was rejected last week. Read more.
| SmartQuote | | |
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 | We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it."
--John Steinbeck,
American author
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