week of 3/8/21 Michaels To Be Acquired, Taken Private in $5B Deal Michaels, the Dallas-based retail chain known for supplying do-it-yourself crafters for more than 45 years, is once again being acquired by a private equity firm after a seven-year run as a public company and an impressive valuation run in a very difficult year for the industry. Take Our MCM Outlook Survey 2021, And Have a Cuppa Joe Multichannel Merchant is conducting its annual MCM Outlook survey to gauge how industry professionals are reacting to trends and market forces. The survey results help shape our editorial coverage, and your valuable input helps us get there. We'll give you a $5 Starbucks gift card as our way of saying "thank you" for completing it. Are Your Ecommerce Returns Creating Non-Returners? Is your ecommerce returns process preventing customers from returning items – and thus not returning to shop with you again? The answer might be yes. Returns provide the ability to drive repeat purchases, if done right. Make sure your returns processes support this, and don’t instead create non-returners.  Breathing New Life into Retail’s Gift Cards Playbook Today’s leading retailers are using gift cards – their own unique merchant-issued branded currency – to engage customers, drive sales and positively impact the bottom line. It’s clear that gift cards will merit increased attention as retailers grapple with the pandemic and try to move beyond it in 2021. Here are 3 reasons why. Fulfillment Automation and Reduced Labor Costs Target Hits a Q4 Omnichannel Home Run A Peek into 2020 Peak: Fulfilling the Promise of Omnichannel Walmart Removes $35 Minimum for Same-Day Delivery See open jobs for ecommerce, marketing, and fulfillment operations View Jobs