Last year, L.L. Bean hired 100 additional workers to ramp up production of their iconic, unglamorous USA-made duck boots. Nonetheless, the popular footwear was quickly put on backorder. Now, the long-time retailer is once again putting some styles on backorder, despite increasing production, hiring additional employees, and making plans for a larger facility. [More]
retail
Reminder: If A Retailer Sends You Something You Didn’t Order, You Can Keep It
By 11.28.16 — Updated: 5.15.17
In the madness of the holiday shipping season, mistakes are not uncommon. Sometimes, lucky shoppers find themselves on the winning end of those mistakes, like when you get 99 extra knives or when a retailer sends four iPods instead of one. So what’s an honest consumer to do? [More]
Three Return Scams Retailers Will Be Looking For This Holiday Season
By 11.23.16
We’ve barely waded into the hectic holiday shopping season, but retailers are already preparing for a rush of returns after the big day — and the scams that inevitably go along with them. [More]
Get Ready To See Even More Exclusions On Department Store Coupons
By 11.22.16
If department stores can’t break their addiction to discounting, designer brands want to help. Brands like Michael Kors and Kate Spade are selling fewer of their products in department stores. Other brands are keeping their items in stores, but insisting that they not be discounted. [More]
The Limited Starts To Explore Options, Maybe A Sale
By 11.18.16
Since all of its buddies in the mall are filing for bankruptcy, maybe it’s time for The Limited to do it, too. The mall clothing chain is currently exploring its options, including sale to a competitor, to a new large investor, or restructuring. [More]
Burning Down The Mall Because You Can’t Find A Shopping Cart Joins Long List Of Customer Overreactions
By 11.18.16
When you’ve been wronged by a business — or believe you have been — there are two ways you can try to resolve the situation: one, you can take a deep breath and calmly address the issue at hand by using your words; or, you can go the opposite route and overreact completely, and woe betide the poor mortals caught in your way. [More]
Navajo Nation, Urban Outfitters Settle Lawsuit Over Clothing Designs
By 11.18.16
Urban Outfitters is no stranger to accusations that it’s ripped off designs belonging to others, or offended an entire culture with its clothing, but it can now put one more of those claims behind it after settling a lawsuit brought by the Navajo Nation in 2012. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch Having A Tough Time Luring Shoppers Despite Rebranding Efforts
By 11.18.16
Abercrombie & Fitch has been trying hard to shed its former image, one strengthened by “cool” executives who didn’t want to deal with any uncool customers, but it seems those turnaround efforts aren’t proving as fruitful as the retailer would like: profits for the company tumbled in the last quarter, and sales figures are far from promising. [More]
Amazon Using Merchants’ Warehouse Space So It Can Ship More Prime Orders, Faster
By 11.17.16
What’s an e-commerce giant supposed to do when it needs more warehouse space? If you’re Amazon, you just ask the merchants whose stuff you’re selling to share, by offering to let them slap Prime labels on their products. [More]
Kenneth Cole Closing All Of Its Outlet Stores
By 11.11.16
This has not been a good year for the designer brands that you generally find at outlet malls. Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Coach have all cut back on their department store presence during 2016, hoping to find customers who will pay full price somewhere else. Kenneth Cole, meanwhile, is trying another tactic: the brand is closing all of its outlet stores, leaving two full-price boutiques, its website, sales through other retailers, and its international business. [More]
JCPenney Handing Out $500 Coupons To Lure Shoppers On Thanksgiving
By 11.11.16
Even though JCPenney is starting its Black Friday sales online next Wednesday, the retailer is still hoping it can convince some folks that they’d rather be shopping in physical stores on Thanksgiving than spending time with loved ones/taking turkey-induced naps by offering up coupons worth $500 off to the first people to come through the doors. [More]
Walmart Hopes To Win Over Millennials With This Giant Orange Vending Machine
By 11.11.16
For years now, Amazon has allowed customers to pickup their orders at bright yellow lockers located at convenience stores and other easy to access areas. Now, in what appears to be another attempt to be more like the e-commerce giant, Walmart has a vending machine where online customers can pickup their orders, you know without having to wait in line or talk to other people. [More]
Walmart Sued For Selling Mislabeled Welspun Egyptian Cotton Sheets
By 11.8.16
Two months after textile manufacturer Welspun was sued for allegedly fraudulently labeling its bedding as premium Egyptian cotton, Walmart — which sold and then pulled the products — is facing a lawsuit of its own. [More]
Sears Will Open On Thanksgiving Then Close For Five Hours
By 11.8.16
For every retailer like REI, hhgregg, and TJMaxx that proudly announces they are bucking the trend of opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, there’s a counterpart sticking to its guns and opening to holiday shoppers on an actual holiday. To that end: Sears will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Will Once Again Open At 5 PM On Thanksgiving, Stay Open For 30 Hours Straight
By 11.7.16
Toys ‘R’ Us apparently subscribes to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” logic when it comes to shopping hours for Thanksgiving: the toy store is once again opening its doors at 5 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving, and will keep those doors open for 30 hours in a row. [More]
Yeah, Black Friday Deals Are Pretty Much The Same Every Year
By 11.1.16
People usually don’t save their Black Friday circulars from year to year, because that would be really weird. Here’s the thing, though: the deals on the shopping holiday aren’t that great to begin with, and they also repeat from year to year. [More]
Instagram Testing Feature That Makes It Easier To Buy Stuff Tagged In Brands’ Photos
By 11.1.16
In case you needed more shopping temptation in your daily social media feeds, Instagram is now testing a new feature that helps users buy the products that they see in brands’ photos. [More]
Luxury Retailers Offering Fewer Handbag Choices This Holiday Season Amid Lack Of Demand
By 10.31.16
Luxury labels are having a rough go of it lately, what with fewer tourists flocking to department stores and slowing traffic at standalone stores. So if you’re looking for a wide variety of handbag options this holiday season, you might be limited in your choices: the luxury retailers that usually peddle high-end handbags are trimming their lineups. [More]
