Dick’s Sporting Goods Launching New Experiential Stores This Year
Dick’s Sporting Goods will open two new locations this spring, but the stores will look markedly different from the company’s standard outlets. DSG is the latest to engage with a growing trend among retailers: pairing products with experiences.
In 2019, REI opened the doors of its first “experience center” in North Conway, New Hampshire. While the location offered REI’s typical range of products, the retailer put particular emphasis on customer engagement, helping shoppers hire guides, book trips, and plan adventures. Around the same time, The North Face opened a store in Soho, Manhattan, with a similar model—providing customers with products and enabling outdoor experiences.
The new stores—one in Victor, New York, set to open in March, and the other in Knoxville, Tennessee, opening in May—will contain hands-on features like climbing walls, hitting bays, and adjacent turf fields intended to allow customers to experiment with products under DSG’s roof. Toni Roeller, DSG’s senior VP of in-store environment and visual merchandising, credits the main impetus for the experiential model to customer feedback.
Philadelphia 76ers Announce Verizon as Official Team Partner
The Philadelphia 76ers announced that Verizon is now an official team partner through a new multi-year deal. The partnership designates Verizon as the exclusive mobile 5G partner for the team and presenting partner of the 76ers Official Mobile Application.
The deal also provides members of Verizon’s loyalty program, Verizon Up, with unique opportunities to claim 76ers prizes and VIP experiences.
“We are excited to partner with Verizon, a leader in technology, to deliver new fan experiences in the 76ers team app as well as 5G capabilities,” said Katie O’Reilly, 76ers chief revenue officer. “As the official presenting partner of the app and an exclusive mobile partner, Verizon will usher us into a new era of innovation by using their technology to help us connect and engage with our fans. We are especially excited to collaborate on their ‘Verizon Up’ customer loyalty program and see their brand and customers come to life at future 76ers games.”
The Home Depot is launching its first ever Perk Week
The Home Depot is launching its first ever Perk Week, a week-long ‘Thank you’ to celebrate Pro customers, running Monday, January 18 through Friday, January 22.
The launch of Perk Week is part of Home Depot’s new and improved Pro Xtra loyalty program, introduced this past October. While Pro Xtra members can regularly receive rewards, Perk Week is upping the ante with a surprise Perk to ring in the new year – ranging from Pro Xtra dollars ($100-$10) to free drinks and snacks. The surprise Perk will be issued Wednesday, January 27.
All Pro customers need to do take part is to visit their Pro Xtra account (you can create a free account here) in The Home Depot Mobile and make an authenticated purchase by either scanning their Virtual ID at in-store checkout (found in the Home Depot app) or by simply logging into their Pro Xtra account prior to online checkout. No minimum purchase required.
Medallia Integration to Slack Revolutionizes Employee Engagement & Collaboration
Medallia, Inc., says that Medallia Crowdicity, the company’s crowdsourcing solution, now offers seamless integration with Slack, enabling organizations to capture breakthrough employee ideas from within the messaging and collaboration tool employees are using today.
According to a 2019 survey, 91 percent of businesses use messaging apps for team collaboration and Slack is a dominant choice in a large percentage of the organizations surveyed. As companies increasingly invite employees to share their business-changing ideas and innovations, the integration between Crowdicity and today’s messaging tools makes it easier than ever to engage employees in a ‘work from anywhere’ world.
“Crowdicity has transformed how we connect our T-Mobile headquarters teams with our retail frontline – which includes thousands of corporate employees and dealers in our line-up! We now have the ability to proactively crowdsource feedback on any topic from all parts of our business (HR, systems, uniforms, devices, offers, and more). The feedback, ideas, and sometimes pain points help us drive the change that is needed to be the best in the world at connecting customers to their world,” said Jeff Whitney, senior program manager at T-Mobile.