Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

As the founder of StorefrontBacktalk, I am thrilled to announce today that StorefrontBacktalk is now a member of the FierceMarkets family of B2B publications. FierceMarkets is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Questex Media Group.

Our voice and approach—for good or for bad—will not change, and we have been told to continue delivering the same mix of breaking retail IT stories, analysis and opinion columns. (Yes, and some truly awful jokes. It’s in the contract that those stay.) The bylines here will stay, as Frank Hayes, PCI Columnist Walt Conway, Legal Columnist Mark Rasch and the rest of the team will continue to do that which we do. Me, too.

“We are excited to bring the StorefrontBacktalk publication and team into the FierceMarkets family,” said Heather Martin, who assumes the role of publisher. “The engaged audience and top-notch editorial team at StorefrontBacktalk, combined with FierceMarkets’ strong existing portfolio and B2B marketing savvy, will be a strategic win for both readers and marketers in the retail space. Readers will continue to benefit from the ‘no holds barred’ editorial coverage they have come to rely on from StorefrontBacktalk. In addition, we are looking forward to launching a strong offering of complementary publications and products to further serve this dynamic and growing industry.”

Heather is quite serious about those new publications, which will give us a chance to explore other areas of retail and to go a lot more deeply into several areas we’re already covering. Also look for more events, Webcasts, special reports and other offerings.

For those who know me, you know I wouldn’t turn StorefrontBacktalk—which I founded and have owned since 2006—over to any group unless I was confident they shared our editorial principles and beliefs. (And a tolerance

for—if not an outright acceptance of—bad puns. That, my friends, was crucial.)

The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, will see StorefrontBacktalk as the flagship of the new Fierce Retail Group. The next several publications of the Retail Group will be announced throughout 2013, including titles in the mobile and retail operations spaces.

Here’s a copy of the official news release.