Things Remembered, a retailer that sells personalized gifts and merchandise, will sell most of its business to Enesco, a distributor of giftware, home décor and accessories, upon filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.Financial terms of the sale have not been disclosed, but Enesco reportedly had a deal to acquire the assets for $17.5 million, subject to higher bids. After the sale, Enesco intends to operate the online, direct mail and B2B retail businesses of Things Remembered, as well as an undetermined portfolio of current stores under the Things Remembered brand. Things Remembered currently operates approximately 450 stores in 43 states, but the retailer was preparing to close 220 locations and 30 kiosks before the sale, according to court documents. The same documents indicated that Enesco’s offer would include at least 50 stores, with the option to add more locations.

WorkJam, a digital workplace solution provider, has acquired employee communications software provider Peerio Technologies. The deal will add chat and secure document sharing to WorkJam’s existing team communication and workstream collaboration capabilities. Peerio will provide WorkJam users with three different modes of communication: Live Chat lets corporate employees, store-level managers and associates share messages or files instantly to communicate about day-to-day activities; Channels allow for targeted messages to be sent to specific audiences, such as employees with a certain job or a those subscribed to a particular topic; and Messaging allows communication to be sent directly to a particular user’s inbox. The service allows employees to improve collaboration, whether that involves managers sharing a message with associates or office workers distributing files. All three forms of communication have been designed with security in mind, making the platform appropriate for sharing sensitive information. “The secret sauce around Peerio is the level of security and encryption that surrounds all these technologies,” said Steven Kramer, CEO and Co-Founder of WorkJam in an interview with Retail TouchPoints at the 2019 NRF Big Show. “This is an important topic around digital workforce platforms, because a lot of different tools have taken the approach that it’s…

[Editor’s note: This article initially contained erroneous information. The mistake has been corrected.] Walmart is working with four additional companies to boost its grocery delivery options: Point Pickup, Skipcart, AxleHire and Roadie. The partnerships will help Walmart double its number of locations offering grocery delivery to 1,600 by the end of 2019.

L’Occitane will acquire ELEMIS, a UK-based beauty and skincare producer, for a maximum consideration of $900 million. The deal will strengthen L’Occitane’s omnichannel distribution and product categories, particularly in skincare.

A.T. Kearney has acquired Cervello, a business analytics and data management consultancy. Cervello will work with A.T. Kearney’s client services teams to fuel the firm’s client performance improvement and transformation programs.

Chairish, an online marketplace for vintage furniture, has acquired Dering Hall, a discovery platform for contemporary furniture brands and interior designers. The brand will complement the existing portfolio of Chairish and DECASO, giving the combined retailer:

Akamai Technologies has acquired Janrain, an identity management software firm, for an undisclosed sum. The deal positions the cloud delivery platform to offer retailers more options to crack down on identity fraud and bot attacks and to improve security across channels. Under terms of the acquisition, Akamai will combine the Janrain Identity Cloud and the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform, a security software solution that defends against DDoS attacks and bots that look like legitimate customers trying to access a site. Janrain will operate fully under the Akamai brand once the platforms are integrated.

Alibaba has acquired data Artisans (dA), a Berlin-based startup that provides distributed systems and large-scale data streaming services for enterprises, for $103 million, according to TechCrunch. The companies have been working together since 2016 to develop the architecture and performance of dA’s software.

Standard Cognition, an AI-powered cashierless checkout provider that has positioned its technology as an “alternative to Amazon Go,” has acquired Explorer.ai, a mapping and computer vision startup, for an undisclosed sum. With the technology, Standard Cognition will be able to map larger stores, allowing the company to expand into new retail verticals. The Standard Cognition technology uses store ceiling cameras to determine what products are in the store, customer location and items they possess so that the shoppers can walk in and out of a store without stopping at a cashier to pay. The company already opened its own pilot store, Standard Market, to test the technology in public. While the 1,900-square-foot San Francisco-based store sells food, cleaning supplies and general convenience store items, Standard Cognition wants to broaden its horizons beyond this vertical.