News Briefs

Online eyewear retailer Zenni is jumping into expedited shipping with a new premium service, Fast Frame. With this option, consumers will be able to get their orders within 24 hours or less. 

The standard wait time for shipping is 7 -14 business days. Now shoppers can get eligible orders in a fraction of that time — these include single-vision prescriptions, sunglasses, or Zenni’s blue light blocking lenses called Blokz. 

The new expedited service is included in each frame’s price (a $19 value) for pairs starting at $43. 

“At Zenni, we always listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the experience and the overall delivery process,” said Bai Gan, chief product officer with Zenni. “Fast Frame is one of the most impactful outputs of our new Ohio manufacturing and fulfillment facility for our customers across the country.”

[More Delivery News: Walmart Opens Door to Secure Delivery With Smart Garage Tech]

Zenni processes these orders in its new manufacturing facility in Ohio. A recently established second location is helping the company to expedite fulfillment to meet increasing demand. According to the company, the Ohio factory allows Zenni to reach more than 60% of its customer base in as little as 48 hours. Zenni will employ more than 300 people at its Ohio location.

“The global supply chain issues over the last year disrupted companies big and small, across every industry,” said Rob Tate, general manager for Zenni USA. “Our newest facility in Ohio mitigates the risks that come from relying on third-party international suppliers, and allows us to fulfill customer orders in record time. As we continue to scale the business, we now have even more flexibility and space to advance our mission of providing Eyewear for Everyone.”

Select Burton, GANNI, Outdoor Voices, and Vince locations are some of the first retailers to roll out a new capability, which will enable them to run their stores solely on iPhone.

NewStore, a modular, mobile-first omnichannel cloud platform for retail brands worldwide, today announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now available for all its U.S. customers. The new feature is offered through the NewStore Associate App, which includes mobile POS, endless aisle, clienteling, and inventory management. With Tap to Pay on iPhone, NewStore customers can accept all types of in-person, contactless payments with just an iPhone.

“We were excited to hear that NewStore can natively offer Tap to Pay on iPhone this quickly. We recently rolled it out at one of our pop-ups, and it was incredibly easy to set up,” said Kevin Harwood, vice president of technology, Outdoor Voices. “The payment experience was also far more convenient than a traditional credit card transaction. We look forward to using it at other pop-ups and in our stores.”

Based on NewStore customer data, the feature has already emerged as a preferred payment method, with 50% of credit card transactions across all live stores occurring via Tap to Pay on iPhone.

“The biggest benefit of Tap to Pay on iPhone for us comes down to the impact it has on checkout speed,” said Brian McAllister, director of Global Operations, Consumer Direct, Burton. “Our store guides have been able to shorten the payment processing time by as much as 30%. Those seconds add up during peak hours, and the time saved allows our guides to better serve customers and take care of other important tasks.” 

Tap to Pay on iPhone is available to NewStore customers in the U.S. that use Adyen as their payment service provider. The service requires brands to use iPhone XS, or newer devices, with iOS 15.5 or later. Eligible retailers can now accept contactless payments — from physical debit and credit cards, to Apple Pay and other digital wallets — through the NewStore Associate App. Until now, associates would have to carry a wireless credit card reader in addition to an iPhone to complete transactions.

NewStore is in the process of rolling out Tap to Pay on iPhone to its remaining, eligible U.S. customers who wish to implement the feature.

Select Target stores will soon have toy demonstrations and an opportunity to get creative and enjoy hands-on play throughout the holiday season as part of a new multi-year relationship with FAO Schwarz. 

Starting in mid-October, FAO Schwarz toys will be exclusively available at Target stores, Target.com, and FAO Schwarz stores. All Target store toy departments will feature dedicated space with displays highlighting FAO Schwarz toys and toy demonstrations throughout the holiday season at select stores.

To celebrate the 160-year anniversary of FAO Schwarz, a capsule collection will feature several nostalgic FAO toys under $25. Additionally, consumers will get access to even more FAO Schwarz toys with exclusive product drops throughout the holiday season.

“One of the reasons families love shopping at Target is because of our incredible assortment of toys, and that selection is only getting better with our new exclusive agreement with the beloved FAO Schwarz brand,” said Jill Sando, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, Target. 

“From hot new items to time-tested favorites, we’ve curated our annual list of Bullseye’s Top Toys to create an easy, fun, and affordable way for guests to find just the right gift for every toy lover on their list,” Sando added. “Simply put, there’s only one place parents and gift givers need to shop for toys this holiday season — and that’s Target.

“We are incredibly thrilled to partner exclusively with Target after having forged such a successful relationship together over the past couple of years. There truly is no better way to kick off our 160th anniversary than to announce this partnership,” said David Niggli, chief merchandising officer, FAO Schwarz. “FAO Schwarz has been celebrating the wonder of childhood and bringing awe and discovery to all children — and the child inside all of us — for 160 years, and now families everywhere across the U.S. can enjoy this experience at their local Target store.”

Winn-Dixie will soon offer a new means to shop for groceries online that will also allow customers to enjoy the same prices as shopping in stores. 

Parent company Southeastern Grocers (SEG) announces that starting in October, customers can utilize its proprietary new offering to shop their local Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores online and have their groceries delivered right to them in as little as two hours with the benefit of in-store deals and promotions. Customers will also be able to pick up their groceries curbside at their preferred store beginning early 2023.

SEG’s proprietary new offering will allow customers to conveniently shop for their groceries online through the Winn-Dixie or Harveys Supermarket app or website and receive their order in two hours or less fulfilled exclusively by DoorDash Drive, DoorDash’s white label fulfillment platform.

“After extensive research and listening to customer feedback, we recognized there was a need for delivery and curbside pickup options that reflected the same great prices and deals shopping in our stores provide,” said Andrew Nadin, chief customer and digital officer of Southeastern Grocers. “We believe shopping online should be an extension of shopping your local stores, and our new offering is just that. It’s a Winn for customers looking to save, while still enjoying the convenience of shopping from their homes or offices.”

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Southeastern Grocers to power their online fulfillment that will give consumers even more opportunities to enjoy the convenience of on-demand grocery, whether at home or on the go,” said Shanna Prevé, VP of Business Development at DoorDash. “We have been working closely with SEG to grow their digital offerings and are excited to continue building our partnership to offer even more convenient and affordable options for their customers.”

Customers may notice store enhancements and equipment installments in Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations over the coming months as the grocer prepares to seamlessly introduce its innovative, direct online shopping experience.

Customers will be able to connect to the online shopping site through their Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket apps or websites in October, with a rollout beginning early 2023 for convenient curbside pickup. Fresco y Más customers will be able to utilize the delivery and curbside pickup options in early 2023.

Ulta Beauty has been using a low-code strategy to facilitate fast-paced experimentation for years.

To achieve this, the beauty retailer leverages Iterate.ai’s Interplay to develop, deploy, and scale a number of innovative digital experiences for its customers. Ulta  was early to adopt a low-code strategy for rapid application development and iteration. The retailer first partnered with Iterate.ai in 2016 to empower its digital innovation team to experiment with cutting-edge digital technologies while reducing the resources needed to hardcode in new capabilities. This fast-paced experimentation process led to numerous digital experiences now familiar to Ulta Beauty shoppers, including the company’s guest services chatbot, AI-powered virtual beauty advisor, and curbside pickup, among others.

“We could not have built the cutting-edge applications as efficiently as we did without our partners at Iterate.ai,” said Michelle Pacynski, VP of digital innovation, Ulta Beauty. “As early believers and first-movers on Iterate’s low-code invention, we quickly understood which applications were going to work and which weren’t. The ability to experiment rapidly allowed us to make confident, data-backed decisions that have allowed us to capitalize on opportunities where we can authentically and directly engage our guests in various experiences.”

Powered by Interplay, Ulta Beauty’s guest services chatbot provides a virtual assistant interface to help guests track orders, ask questions, learn about beauty services, and understand shopping options across channels and categories. The company’s AI-powered virtual beauty advisor provides personalized skincare recommendations based on dynamic questions in response to individual needs. Curbside pickup, which became essential as the pandemic unfolded, was swiftly built and deployed within weeks.

To enable rapid application development, iterative improvements, and large-scale production deployments, Interplay delivers a low-code environment featuring both extensive tooling and drag-and-drop simplicity. The intelligent, low-code platform includes 475 pre-built modules that offers users full command of advanced AI/ML, IoT, voice, headless commerce, blockchain, data integration, and API connections to both startups and legacy systems. Leveraging Interplay’s architecture and intuitive interface, developers of any experience level can assemble modules to quickly and securely build and test new applications. Compared with teams utilizing traditional code-writing methods, the solution regularly achieves significantly faster development for its users.

CVS Health will acquire Signify Health for around value of approximately $8 billion. Signify offers proprietary analytics and technology platforms to enable a network of more than 10,000 clinicians across all 50 states to make house calls. 

"Signify Health will play a critical role in advancing our health care services strategy and gives us a platform to accelerate our growth in value-based care," said CVS Health president and CEO, Karen S. Lynch. "This acquisition will enhance our connection to consumers in the home and enables providers to better address patient needs as we execute our vision to redefine the health care experience. In addition, this combination will strengthen our ability to expand and develop new product offerings in a multi-payor approach."

CVS and Signify anticipate that the transaction will close in the first half of 2023.

Signify Health

Signify Health's network of clinicians physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants utilize home-based visits to identify a patient's clinical and social needs, and then connect them to appropriate follow-up care and community-based resources. In 2022, Signify Health's clinicians expect to connect with nearly 2.5 million unique members in the home, both in-person and virtually, and on average they spend 2.5 times longer with a patient in the home than providers spend in the average primary care office visit.

Since acquiring Caravan Health in March 2022, Signify Health has further expanded its focus on value-based care and population health. Today, Caravan is already a partner to over 170 providers participating in accountable care organizations (ACOs) serving Medicare beneficiaries with a focus on improving the health of underserved communities. Signify Health recently announced that its ACOs generated more than $138 million in gross savings in 2021, and in 2023 the Caravan business is expected to serve ACOs representing over 700,000 people rivaling many standalone platforms.

As part of CVS Health, Signify Health will continue to advance its extensive primary care enablement capabilities, including turnkey analytics, network, and practice improvement solutions, to help providers transition to value-based reimbursement and improve quality of care.

"Signify Health's mission is to build trusted relationships to make people healthier by using actionable intelligence to understand what's really impacting outcomes and cost today," said Kyle Armbrester, CEO of Signify Health. "As we carefully considered our long-term strategic options, we determined that CVS Health is the ideal partner, given its focus on expanding access to health services and helping consumers navigate to the best sites of care. We are both building an integrated experience that supports a more proactive, preventive and holistic approach to patient care, and I look forward to executing on our shared vision for the future of care delivery."

"We formed Signify Health and recruited Kyle and the team to build a strategic innovation platform focused on leveraging technology as a catalyst for connecting key health care stakeholders to drive better patient outcomes," said Matt Holt, chairman of the board, Signify Health and president of private equity and managing director at New Mountain Capital, which owns a majority stake in Signify Health. "Together with CVS Health, Signify is uniquely positioned to continue to lead the transformation to value-based care. We look forward to the significant impact this transaction will make on health care for years to come."

Following the close of the transaction, Kyle Armbrester will continue to lead Signify Health as part of CVS Health. Signify Health's extensive network of over 50 health plan clients and their members will further augment CVS Health's offering of payor-agnostic solutions for a diverse set of health plan and employer clients.