McDonald's New McGold Card | Party City Sets Up Shop On Amazon | JCPenney's 'Babies R Us' Parents Play

Established brands like Nordstrom, IKEA and others are working to get their stores closer to the customer and make up for lost ground in the eCommerce space. After years of watching eCommerce startups come after their customers, these retailers are taking aggressive steps to use their stores as a platform to help shoppers look for apparel and home furnishings on any device they choose. Read More...

Mattress Firm is reportedly eyeing store closures along with a potential bankruptcy. At the same time, Walmart is rolling out robotic technology for online grocery order pickups, and a proposed merger between Rite Aid and Albertsons appears to have fallen through. Read more in this week’s Retail Pulse. Read More...

There are a lot of complicated ways to assess what consumers and businesses like and want — and a lot of proprietary algorithms dedicated to answering that question in excruciating detail. But if one is looking for a fast and cheap method, “follow the money” is always good advice, because where the spend goes, consumer and business interest are usually nearby. Read More...