While many retailers were surely over the moon with an increase of online sales this year, that same burst in orders will have one effect that likely won’t make companies happy. Because when it comes time to return gifts purchased online, retailers are often on the hook to cover the costs involved. [More]
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This Year’s Avalanche Of Online Orders Won’t Be So Great For Retailers When Everyone Starts Returning Gifts
By 12.30.15
Everlane Presents Customers With Moral Dilemma By Letting Them Choose The Price On Certain Items
By 12.29.15
While we’re used to naming our own price for, say, a flight or a hotel using aservice like Priceline or Hotwire, it’s not every day that a clothing retailer gives customers the chance to choose what they’ll pay for apparel. Online-only retailer Everlane is giving shoppers the opportunity to pick from a few price tags for certain items in order to move overstock, but there is one small catch. [More]
Report: Target Is Considering Its Own Mobile Wallet App
By 12.18.15
It seems everywhere you turn these days, another company is offering a new way to pay with a smartphone: there’s Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, as well as Walmart’s newly announced mobile payment system, and now Target might be hopping on the bandwagon with its own mobile wallet. Any bets on whether it’ll be called “Target Pay”? [More]
Men’s Wearhouse CEO Says He Knows How To Fix Jos. A. Bank
By 12.11.15
Men’s Wearhouse is about a year and a half into its ownership of Jos. A. Bank, and it’s safe to say things aren’t going so well: after layoffs in March 2015, and ending three-for-one suit deals, sales are down, way down. But Men’s Wearhouse says it’s got a plan to turn things around, and isn’t giving up on the suit-slingers at Jos. A. Bank just yet. [More]
Survey: Retailers Should Work To Be On Customer Service “Nice List” Year-Round, Or Risk Turning Off Shoppers
By 12.8.15
If retailers think they can be naughty all year when it comes to customer service, only to take their smiles out of storage and dust’em off when the holidays roll around, they’ve got another think coming, according to a recent survey that says customers can be very unforgiving. [More]
Attention, Kmart Shoppers: The Bluelight Special Is Back
By 11.2.15
Sirens are sounding and the blue light is flashing once again at Kmart, as the struggling retailer tries to lure shoppers through its doors and revive its sales: after retiring “Bluelight Specials” in the early ’90s, the chain will once again blast sirens and turn on the blue light to alert shoppers to surprise, 15-minute long deals in its 942 stores. [More]
Amazon Planning To Hire 100,000 Temporary Workers This Holiday Season
By 10.20.15
While Amazon continues to deflect criticism of its workplace culture, the retailer announced plans to nearly double its workforce this holiday season: adding 100,000 temporary workers to its roster. [More]
The Chip-And-PIN Credit Card Era Starts Today. What You Need To Know
By 10.1.15
Over the past few months, you may have noticed more retailers adorning their checkout stands with shiny new credit card readers. While those systems still have an area along the side where you swipe your card’s magnetic strip, they also have a smaller slot (typically) on the front where you simply jam gently insert your card. This is all part of the country’s shift toward more secure, but far from perfect, chip-enabled cards that kicks into high-gear today. [More]
Amazon Ending Pay-Per-Click Ad Program That Took Shoppers To Other Retail Sites, Creates Text-Only Ads
By 8.12.15
Smaller retailers who pay to have ads appear on the bottom of Amazon search results will soon see less of their products and more text, as the e-commerce giant prepares to shutter a pay-per-click ad program that took shoppers away from its site. [More]
CFPB Reminds Retailers They Can’t Accept Military Allotments For Certain Purchases
By 7.20.15
Allotments allow military servicemembers to automatically direct some of their paycheck to parties of their choosing, ideally for savings, insurance premiums, housing payments, and support of dependents. Until recently, allotments could also be used to make retail purchases, but such transactions weren’t covered by many of the legal protections that come with traditional payment methods like electronic checks and debit cards. Recently enacted rules now prohibit the use of allotments for buying personal property, and federal regulators are reminding retailers they have to follow the law. [More]
American Express Creates Its Own Version Of PayPal: Amex Express Checkout
By 7.9.15
It might be hard for one to argue that there’s a lack of options when it comes to digital wallets and mobile payment systems. The list that includes among others Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, and Square is getting longer as American Express announced today that it would make a foray into the increasingly crowded sector with Amex Express Checkout. [More]
Sally Beauty Looking Into “Unusual Activity” On Payment Cards At Some U.S. Stores
By 5.4.15
In what has become an unfortunately familiar experience, yet another retailer is announcing that it might’ve been the victim of a potential data breach: Sally Beauty confirms that it’s investigating “unusual activity” involving payment cards at some of its U.S. stores. This, a year after a breach that affected tens of thousands of customers. [More]
Amazon Files First Lawsuit To Block Companies From Selling Fraudulent Positive Reviews
By 4.9.15
For the first time in the 20 years that Amazon has allowed users to review products, the company is taking legal action against businesses it claims sells fake reviews to third-party sellers. [More]
Retailers Only Have Eyes For You With Latest Online Marketing Efforts
By 4.1.15
On the one hand, it can be very convenient to get a coupon emailed to you based on your obsession with tacos. On the other, having every website you visit blast your eyes with ads for the same darn pair of lime green shoes you already bought as part of a Halloween costume and never intend to buy again. But some retailers say they’re working on tailoring such marketing efforts down to each person individually, to maximize effectiveness and cut down on irritation. [More]
High-End Online Retailers Net-A-Porter, Yoox Officially Tie The Knot
By 3.31.15
It seems like just yesterday we were dreaming of a mega-luxury online retail platform where we could buy all the designer brands our wallets will never be able to afford. That’s probably because it was one day ago that reports began to swirl that online merchants Yoox and Net-A-Porter were thinking of merging to create one big high-end shopping destination on the interwebs. [More]
Net-A-Porter In Deal Talks With Online Retailer Yoox
By 3.30.15
Amazon’s foray into the luxury apparel business may be over before it even began. Just a week after reports surfaced that the company was in talks to buy high-end retailer Net-a-Porter for $2 billion, the smaller company confirmed it’s seeking a possible deal with someone else. [More]
L.L. Bean Plans To Triple Its Retail Locations By 2020
By 3.11.15
Shh… can you hear that? If you listen very, very closely, it’s the grumbling of lumbersexuals and other hipsters across the land, groaning over the fact that their L.L. Bean duck boots are hopelessly backordered. And winter is almost over! Have no fear, in the future it could be easier to ensure your feet are properly clad in rubber-toed boots before you take a photo of them somewhere interesting, as the retailer is aiming to open a slew of new stores in the next five years. [More]
