Retailers have long looked for ways to improve the checkout process, but their disdain for long lines pales in comparison with how customers feel about standing around waiting to pay for their products. FutureProof Retail decided to do something about it.

Return policies are coming back to haunt some retailers. Customers — and some people who are not customers — seem to have an insatiable appetite for bringing goods into a store and asking about credit for returned merchandise.

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.

Continuing the theme of doing things that are good for us, L.L.Bean has launched an initiative to help people get out of the office. Working with coworking space provider Industrious, L.L.Bean has brought an outdoor coworking space to several cities throughout the United States.

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.

CVS Pharmacy is a purpose-driven company dedicated to helping people on their path to better health. But that path is rapidly changing, and CVS has to change with it. President Kevin Hourican discusses how CVS is adapting in the face of a changing industry and, even more importantly, changing customer behavior on the latest episode of NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast.

Retailers know innovation doesn’t begin with new technology — it begins with having the right foundation in place to implement and utilize that technology. La-Z-Boy Chief Information Officer David Behen will join KEDS Chief Marketing Officer Emily S. Culp on the Innovation Stage at NRF 2019: Retail’s Big Show for a discussion on how to provide incentives for innovation and develop executive buy-in.

Just in time for the holidays, Build-A-Bear Workshop is bringing its signature Make-Your-Own experience to a variety of locations with new permanent shops inside the flagship FAO Schwarz store at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City and inside four Great Wolf Lodge Resorts. The company also has plans to open 10 seasonal pop-up shops at Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s locations to help families celebrate the season.

Bitcoin.com recently announced a partnership with eGifter, a gift card marketplace offering more than 300 top-branded eGift cards to U.S. and global brands. Cryptocurrency users will be able to shop for eGift cards directly from the Bitcoin.com store, and, in the near future, from the Bitcoin.com wallet.

Shopgate Inc., a SaaS mobile commerce platform, has joined forces with Magento as part of its Partner Program. Together, the companies can enable midmarket and enterprise retailers to strengthen their shopping experiences with a platform designed to build omnichannel experiences and native mobile apps.

The ALDO Group, creator and operator of footwear and accessory brands, has selected FineLine Technologies as its exclusive supplier for its shoe box labels, accessory retail stickers and hang tags. 

Premier lifestyle retail company Azadea Group recently announced another first for the Middle East fashion scene: an exclusive partnership with multinational brand Urban Outfitters. The latest addition to Azadea’s portfolio, Urban Outfitters is dedicated to inspiring customers through a unique combination of product, creativity and cultural understanding.

CORESense, a provider of all-in-one ecommerce and retail management software solutions, has partnered with Shippo, a leading shipping solution for business. Using Shippo's comprehensive shipping platform, CORESense can now provide retailers access to carrier services from within the CORESense application.

Visitors to Madison-Reed.com can now virtually try on more than 40 Madison Reed hair colors by using their device’s live camera or uploading a selfie. A split screen will appear to immediately highlight the difference between the current hair color and the new, virtual shade. In a fun twist, the split screen has a built-in slider that allows the user to toggle between two colors in real time.

Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. has announced a partnership agreement with Loop Commerce, a leading technology service that makes it easier for consumers to shop online for others. Through the partnership, Kenneth Cole will integrate Loop Commerce’s Gift360, a new, end-to-end digital-gifting platform that includes the award-winning, patented GiftNow service as well as an enhanced service for digital gift cards and corporate gifting options.