Whether it’s because of anxiety due to the upcoming presidential and congressional elections or a stubborn refusal to even think about winter holidays before Halloween, Americans are reportedly waiting until after the election is over to begin their shopping. No, they’re not waiting until after Thanksgiving: that would be silly. [More]
retail
Walmart Launches Free Streaming Movie Platform — But Don’t Expect New Releases
By 10.19.16
Users of Walmart’s streaming video service, Vudu, have been able to pay for TV shows and movies for years. Now, the retailer has launched a companion service that will provide customers with free streaming videos — if you don’t mind commercial interruptions and movies that are a few years old. [More]
Gap To Close Banana Republic Stores In The UK
By 10.18.16
Mall stalwart Gap’s rough year — including a distribution center fire, store closures, and a “too normal” clothing line — is getting a bit rockier, as the company announced it will soon close most of its Banana Republic-branded stores across the pond. [More]
Report: Macy’s To Open An Hour Earlier On Thanksgiving Day
By 10.17.16
While the trend of not opening on Thanksgiving Day and making sure everyone knows it spreads across the retailscape, some stores are sticking with the previous trend of opening on the holiday. One example: Macy’s, which apparently has been so successful with the practice that it’s reportedly moving its Thanksgiving Day opening time back an hour, to 5 PM. [More]
Best Buy Selling iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus At $50 To $100 Markup
By 10.13.16
In general, retailers sell new Apple products at the sticker price set by the tech giant, but if you want to buy a new iPhone through the Best Buy website you might end up paying up to $100 more than what you’d pay elsewhere.
[More]
Vera Bradley Is The Latest Retailer To Have Payment Systems Hacked
By 10.12.16
If you bought a colorful, pattern-heavy bag, purse, or other accessory from Vera Bradley this past summer be warned: the retailer says it is the latest company to be hit by a payment system breach. [More]
Macy’s To Open LensCrafters Shops Inside 280 Stores By The End Of 2017
By 10.12.16
Macy’s is no stranger to the store-within-a-store concept, having already teamed up with Best Buy and Sunglass Hut to set up dedicated areas for the retailers to sell their products inside the department store. Now, the company is taking that same concept further in a deal with LensCrafters to sell eyeglasses, contacts, and other vision products. [More]
Analyst Calls Fire At Gap Distribution Center “A Fortuitous Reduction In Inventory”
By 10.7.16
Ah, Gap: a company where a fire that destroys merchandise that the company would have a tough time selling due to its “unappealing” nature is seen as a good thing. [More]
Facebook, Shopify Let Users Buy Stuff Straight From Messenger
By 10.6.16
For all its popularity, Facebook has yet to convince users or businesses to think of the social media network as an e-commerce platform; but not for lack of trying. It recently tested shops built directly into retailers’ Facebook pages, created a dedicated shopping feed, and just this week launched Marketplace, a competitor to Craigslist. Now comes a new feature that will let Facebook users browse and buy from retailers through Facebook Messenger. [More]
Mall Of America, Staples, BJ’s Make Sure You Know They’re Closed On Thanksgiving
By 10.5.16 — Updated: 11.14.16
It was about five years ago that the Thanksgiving shopping trend began to metastasize throughout the retail business: opening times on Black Friday crept back from the wee hours of Black Friday morning to the late hours of Thanksgiving. Malls joined big-box stores, and Thanksgiving Day was fun for a few years. Then a widespread backlash began, and retailers took advantage of that. [More]
Target “Rethinking Everything” For New Mini-Stores Aimed At Millennials
By 10.4.16
Although other retailers haven’t been able to lure shoppers with mini stores, Target is hoping to succeed where others have failed, and seems pretty confident about its plan to open a slew of mini stores in new markets. Markets filled with — you guessed it — millennials. [More]
Costco’s Credit Card Transfer Issues Didn’t Affect Sales, Profits
By 10.3.16
Costco’s complicated, complaint-riddled switch from an American Express-branded store credit card to a Visa Citi card may have been a big issue for the membership store’s customers, but it apparently wasn’t a problem for the company’s bottom line. [More]
NC Mall Wants To Evict Sears For Low Sales, Lack Of Effort
By 9.30.16 — Updated: 10.3.16
Sears had a deal with the Holly Hill Mall in Burlington, NC that isn’t unusual: the retailer gave the mall a small percentage of its sales instead of paying a fixed rent. That amount has evidently fallen over the years as the popularity and business prospects of Sears fell, and now the mall has sued Sears for failing to keep up its end of the lease. [More]
Walmart Worker Accused Of Setting Multiple Fires Inside The Same Store
By 9.29.16
Things got a bit heated at a Walmart in Massachusetts recently, after a employee allegedly set three fires inside the store. [More]
Uber Thinks You Might Want To Look At A Bunch Of Ads During Your Ride
By 9.29.16
There are definitely some things people would like more of during an Uber ride — more control over music, more free cookies, etc. — but more advertising and content from brands trying to promote themselves? That might not appeal to everyone. [More]
Report: Sears Holdings, Claire’s, Rue 21 At Risk Of Bankruptcy And Liquidation
By 9.28.16
Think of your favorite troubled or defunct retailer: does it or did it have a reason to exist? That’s the deceptively simple question raised in a new report from financial ratings firm Fitch Ratings, which predicts that the combination of e-commerce, disinterest in malls, and a lack of strong brand identity for some troubled retailers could spell doom in the next year or so. [More]
Walmart May Invest $1B In Flipkart To Fight Amazon Overseas
By 9.28.16
Walmart’s apparent plan to become more like Amazon wasn’t realized when the company launched its $50/year Prime-rival Shipping Pass or after the company snatched up e-commerce site Jet.com for $3.3 billion. But not one to give up, the big box retailer is now reportedly in talks to invest more than $1 billion in fellow Amazon competitor Flipkart. [More]
Home Depot Pulling Super Creepy Peeping Tom Halloween Decoration
By 9.28.16
There is a profound difference between spooky-scary and scary-scary, a lesson that Home Depot is currently learning the hard way after offering a Peeping Tom Halloween decoration that hits way too close to home for some. [More]
