Retailers will now be paying fewer transaction fees to Canadian banks and credit cards, which have arrived at a deal with the federal government to cut merchant charges.

This agreement could save up to 700,000 Canadian businesses money by resulting in lower interchange fees for retailers and service providers, which would then be capped for an unspecified period of time.

This new agreement was reached after years of negotiating among retailers, the federal government, banks, credit card companies and the Competition Tribunal.

The U.S. recently approved a similar reduction in interchange fees, and those savings were passed along to consumers.

Canadian retail sales saw an increase of 2.5 per cent in August, compared to the same period last year, on a not seasonally adjusted basis. For the quarter ending in August, sales grew by 4.6 per cent compared to one year ago.

Sales at supermarkets and other grocery stores declined by 3.4 per cent in August as compared to the same period last year, after experiencing a 3.4 per cent increase in July. Specialty food stores also experienced a decline.

Meanwhile, sales at health and personal care stores grew by 4.3 per cent, the subcategory’s lowest monthly increase this year. Store merchandise sales, which includes clothing, furniture and hobby stores, grew by 5. (230-fifth.com) 3 per cent year-over-year for the quarter ending in August, which is the largest growth since before the recession.

Things are looking up for Canadian retailers, however. The Canadian dollar recently fell to under US$0.90, which may discourage cross-border shopping this holiday season, so with some effective deals in place, that business is likely to stay at home.

New Age Marketing has hired Renee Schwartz as its new Territory Account Manager for B.C. Renee has over 12 years of key and sales account management experience, and most recently spent 10 years with Tree of Life/KeHe Distributors Canada as one of its top sales representatives in British Columbia.

In her new role, Renee’s responsibilities include managing and growing business and accounts within the regions of Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

Congratulations in your new role, Renee!

A celebration for Mario Alonzi took place last weekend in honour of his life, hard work, and dedication to his commitments.

The Celebration of Life for Mario Alonzi was held on Sunday October 26, 2014 at 6:30 pm at Studio 89, located at 1065 Canadian Place, Unit 104, Mississauga, Ont.

Mr. Alonzi was a manager and health consultant at Nature’s Source. Our condolences go out to Mr. Alonzi’s family.

After 10 months and a $3 million investment, healthy grocery store and restaurant Ohlavie opened in Quebec, creating 15 jobs in the store’s region.

Owners and husband-and-wife team Bernard Caza and Cathy Lemay’s 5,000 square-foot new store features a wide range of local, organic and health foods, including dairy, frozen foods and produce, vitamins and supplements and alcohol. Ohlavie also features a health counselor to answer customers’ questions seven days a week.

In addition, the building features professional offices upstairs that house osteopaths, naturopathic services and a massage therapist.

“Our name was chosen to celebrate life, while meeting the needs of residents and visitors,” Caza told lerefletdulac.com. “We want to offer them an alternative with a wide range of health products.”

The building was designed to emulate a general store that would be in the historic village of Val-Jalbert, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The inside of the store features wood from a century-old barn and stained glass windows, plus a solid wood bar in the restaurant.

“We invite people to come see us, but they can also have a coffee, chat or just eat at our table. Come and enjoy the atmosphere,” Lemay told the French-language website.

Giant, Stop & Shop and Peapod parent company Ahold USA will be testing out a simulated shopping experience. The 3D interactive shopping tool from InContext Solutions will give retailers a sense of marketing and merchandising concepts virtually. The tool will feature videos where users can view the brick-and-mortar store as well as each product.

“We’re able to manage tests more effectively in a controlled environment,” said Ed Sheedy, Ahold’s director of category management insights, reports FierceRetail.

Meanwhile, Peapod has announced not long ago that a buy online, pick-up in-store service has been set in motion, available at Giant and Stop & Shop supermarkets.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association tested 27 dietary supplement products and found that some products with potentially dangerous ingredients were still sold on the market. 18 of the products included ingredients not approved for over-the-counter use while 17 contained ingredients that had previously caused the product to be recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The products ranged from weight loss to body building supplements.

The FDA recalls prescription drugs with ingredients that may potentially be a health threat, but dietary supplements are not required to be approved by the FDA before going on the market. Authors of the study suggested that stricter FDA enforcement could be the solution to the problem.

“Unapproved or adulterated drugs’ masquerading as lawful supplements is a threat to public health and to consumer confidence in the supplement industry,” Scott Melville, Consumer Healthcare Products Association president and CEO, told CTV News.

Experts say the bioactive ingredients that cocoa contains may improve memory decline. An experiment published by the Nature Neuroscience journal was conducted, where flavanol compounds were consumed via prepared cocoa drinks, and 37 volunteers consumed the beverage over a period of three months. The study found that the group of participants that consumed the flavanols in a high dose had major improvements to their memory.

“If a participant had the memory of a typical 60-year-old at the beginning of the study, after three months that person on average had the memory of a typical 30- or 40-year-old,” Scott Small, a neurology professor at Columbia University Medical Center, told CTV News. He added that more research is needed to verify the results.

Flavanol compounds can be found in grapes, blueberries, various vegetables and teas.

Data and analytics leader Qlik has announced in a press release that Matthew James, president and CEO of Purity Life Health Products LP, will receive the 2014 Ventana Research Technology Leader Award for Overall Business Technology Innovation with the use of QlikView.

Purity Life has used Qlik since 2009 to assist in its business of natural health product distribution in the categories of dietary supplements, vitamins, natural body care, earth friendly household goods and natural health food products. Purity Life products are supplied to over 7,000 stores across Canada.

Purity Life used QlikView to make data more accessible across the organization, allowing its sales team to have immediate access to data in order to drive sales performance. After it was a success with the sales team, Purity Life extended its use to its finance, IT, customer service and executive leadership departments.

“Purity Life’s utilization of QlikView exemplifies how organizations can successfully leverage data to improve business performance,” said Scott Jennings, Qlik’s director of market development, retail and services, in a press release. “By striving to be continuously innovative and take a data centric approach, Matthew has enabled his teams to uncover actionable insights that help positively impact the bottom line. We are thrilled to see Matthew recognized for this accomplishment.”

James was presented with the award at the Technology Leadership Awards Ceremony at the 2014 Ventana Research Summit, which took place on Oct. 22, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport.

Target Canada has opened its last three stores slated for 2014, located on St. Laurent Blvd. in Ottawa, Ont.; Sheridan Centre in Mississauga, Ont.; and Polo Park in Winnipeg, Man., bringing the grand total to 133 Target stores across Canada.

“The opening of these three stores marks another important milestone for Target Canada,” said Target Canada President Mark Schindele in a press release. “As we head into the holiday season, we’re thrilled to offer our guests additional locations to find exclusive merchandise, great value and a unique shopping experience.”

Target Canada treated its guests to deals and special grand-opening promotions on October 17, the day the stores opened their doors. The three new locations will each feature a licensed Starbucks location and an in-store pharmacy.