In midtown Detroit, two businesses —  Sfumato (pronounced sfoo’MA toe), a source for original unisex fragrances crafted from all-natural ingredients, and Castalia, a cozy cocktail bar —  exist in tandem, sharing an aesthetic connection: the universality of the sense of smell and the fashioning of unique products that appeal to that sense most linked to memory.

When Dawn Hurlebaus bought an online company that sold body-sculpting garments, she thought she knew all about the necessary technical issues associated with selling products online, given her 30-year career in IT. But last October, she received a notice from Google that her website had been compromised.

Prospectors searching for gold in 1849 may have found a few nuggets, but Megan Kvamme has figured out how to unearth multiple gems every day. Kvamme is co-founder and CEO of FactGem, a startup that gives retailers a blueprint for advanced data analytics that helps sift out the “gems” inside mass amounts of data.

NRF is proud to provide our members with the online Retail Buying Guide to search for trusted vendors, products and services in the retail industry. Our guide is a user-friendly forum designed to bring suppliers and purchasers together. You can search by keyword, location, company name or category. Available whenever you need it, the Retail Buying Guide makes it easy to locate products and professional services geared to the retail industry. Click here to visit the online Retail Buying Guide! To advertise, please contact Sarah Allen for more information.

Not all ads are aimed at “waking people up” to new products, concepts or services. A recent print piece from IKEA at the back of Middle East-based monthly magazine good aimed to do just the opposite.

The digital edition of STORES includes must-read pieces, including the articles featured here. Read the current issue and browse the archives for issues you may have missed.

From ordering online to curbside pickup, Generation Z is transforming the back-to-class shopping season. On NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast, NRF Director of Retail and Consumer Insights Katherine Cullen discusses trends from NRF’s annual survey of back-to-class shoppers and how this generation of consumers is shaping retail.

Since taking the helm at warehouse retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club in 2015, Chairman, President and CEO Chris Baldwin has brought a laser focus to technological innovation and customer experience. "Transformation is always going to happen in this industry because we reinvent our customer base every day,” says Baldwin, who is also chairman of NRF.

Partnerships have helped global brands such as Uber and Buzzfeed expand their businesses and acquire customers but they come with pain points as well as perks. Uber’s Keith Posehn, Buzzfeed’s Nila Ali and Acceleration Partners’ Sarah Johnson will discuss next-generation affiliate/partner programs at NRF’s Shop.org conference in Las Vegas on Sept. 14.

ShipStation, the leading web-based ecommerce shipping solution, announced its partnership with noissue.co, a global platform for designing and ordering branded wrapping tissue and stickers. Noissue's partnership with ShipStation will help ShipStation users improve the customer experience by making custom-branded packaging more accessible.

Champion Athleticwear, makers of authentic athletic apparel since 1919, is continuing to expand its retail footprint with a second U.S. retail specialty store opening in New York City, at 434 Broadway.

Forever 21, one of the largest, most widely recognized independent fashion retailers in the world, is moving beyond text-based online search to offer shoppers AI-powered visual search and navigation developed by Donde Search.

West Coast neighborhood grocer New Seasons Market has enlisted leading customer data and loyalty provider Clutch for an innovative B2C customer relationship management (CRM) solution.

AutoX is launching a grocery delivery and mobile store pilot in San Jose, Calif., allowing public users to order and receive fresh produce and other goods delivered by AutoX self-driving cars. Arriving in time for the autumn harvest produce season, the new amenity will be available to customers in geo-fenced areas throughout the city.

Happy Returns, which provides a comprehensive solution of software, services and logistics for online returns, announced the expansion of its partnership with Paper Source to host Return Bars in 125 stores in 45 metro areas nationwide. Online shoppers from Happy Returns’ growing list of retail partners can now return products in person at all Paper Source stores, eliminating the hassle and wait of returns by mail. The expansion follows a successful pilot program begun in March that included 18 stores in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Infogain, a Silicon Valley provider of vertically specialized software engineering services, is partnering with Jesta I.S. In the new alliance, Infogain will support Jesta I.S. to provide best-in-class retail functionality to customers in the United States and Canada as well as responding to demand for Jesta I.S. services internationally. Infogain’s deep retail industry expertise combined with new digital approaches such as robotic process automation will improve business operations and enhance customer service for Jesta I.S. clients.

Microduino Inc., an award-winning global designer, developer, manufacturer and seller of LEGO-compatible stackable electronic building blocks, related components, and in-class science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning systems, has signed an agreement with San Jose, Calif.-based Fry’s Electronics, one of America’s leading personal computer and consumer electronics retailers, through which the chain will sell four Microduino STEM education toys via www.frys.com and all 34 of its bricks-and-mortar locations in nine states.

PVH Corp. is bringing one of its most iconic heritage brand lines overseas with the expansion of IZOD into Europe.

Bluefin, a leader in payment security, announced a partnership with SoftPoint, a leader in software and services for the hospitality industry, to provide Bluefin’s PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption solution through SoftPoint’s Datapoint mobile application.