Unlike other products, we don’t see a barrage of commercials for brands of towels on television and online, telling us which brand to buy. Yet there’s a wide array of choices once you hit a home, department, or discount store. What should you look for? Which towel is right for you? Here’s what you should look for when searching for soft and absorbent towels. [More]
shopping
Our Growing E-Commerce Addiction Means Mountains Of Cardboard
By 2.16.16
It’s a great accomplishment of modern logistics and technology that we’re able to order a case of toilet paper once have new ones magically re-appear on our doorsteps every few months, but the amazing convenience of shopping online has a cost in addition to credit card bills. Shopping online means cardboard boxes, plastic wrap, and other protective packaging is used once and then thrown away, and delivery trucks visit individual houses instead of malls. [More]
Whole Foods’ New 365 Stores Might Include Tattoo Parlors Because Millennials
By 2.11.16
Everyone knows how annoying it is when all you want is a bunch of carrots, some celery, crusty bread, and body art that will never come off your skin without an expensive, painful removal process, and you just can’t find a one-stop shop for it all. Here comes Whole Foods with its new “365 by Whole Foods Market” stores, which may include in-house tattoo parlors, because that makes complete and total sense. [More]
Target Introducing New Shopping Carts Designed For Children And Adults With Disabilities
By 2.10.16
Pushing a wheelchair as well as a shopping cart may pose a bit of a challenge for your average shopper. In an effort to provide another option for those customers, Target is introducing new shopping carts in all of its stores that are specifically designed for children and adults with disabilities. [More]
Retailers Could Open More Restaurants Inside Stores To Drive Business
By 2.10.16
If you pay a visit to Macy’s flagship store in New York, you’ll find more than just clothing, accessories, and home goods. The store, overlooking Herald Square, is also home to the company’s only restaurant — at least for now. [More]
Target CEO, Other Executives Paying Customers Home Visits To Improve Shopping Experience
By 1.21.16
Would you allow a stranger to enter your house, rummage through your closets and cupboards if it meant that your next shopping experience might be better? That’s the idea behind Target’s latest initiative to change the way it gets to know customers. [More]
U.S. Retail Spending Growth Slows Down: Americans Possibly Have Enough Stuff
By 1.15.16
While our economy is supposedly expanding and consumers have more money in our pockets thanks to lower gas prices, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that that we’re not spending that money in retail stores, online or in real life. If we’re not out hitting the malls, where’s all that money going? [More]
Big Lots Is Not Actually Slapping Different Prices On The Same Gloves
By 1.13.16
While shopping at Big Lots, Joe noticed identical-looking pairs of gloves in different parts of the store. Yet the “garden gloves” in that department aren’t the same as the “work gloves” in the hardware department. Why not? Since Big Lots has many of the products they sell manufactured, we asked the company directly. The gloves that appear identical aren’t. [More]
Report: Kohl’s Considers Going Private, Breaking Up Company To Prevent Takeover
By 1.11.16
Middle-class consumers just aren’t as into department stores as they used to be. Experts speculate that this is because off-price and outlet stores caught on during the recession, and shoppers simply don’t want to go back. Even staying open for 170 hours straight wasn’t enough to drag Kohl’s out of a slump, and the company’s leaders worry that they could be taken over while their stock price is low. [More]
This Year’s Avalanche Of Online Orders Won’t Be So Great For Retailers When Everyone Starts Returning Gifts
By 12.30.15
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]
14 More Tiny Urban Target Stores Will Open In 2016-2017
By 12.29.15
Yes, Target is a chain of big-box stores, but the company sees its future in considerably smaller boxes. Instead of suburban stores of more than 100,000 square feet in the suburbs, all but one of the stores that Target has planned in 2016 and 2017 are small-format stores in urban areas across the country. [More]
Report: Holiday Shoppers Saved So Much On Gas, They Spent 8% More This Year
By 12.28.15
If you felt like you reached into your wallet a few more times this holiday season than last year, or that you were forking over bigger chunks of change, you’re not alone: a new report says retail sales were up 7.9% over 2014’s numbers. [More]
Jet.com Doesn’t Want To Promise Christmas Delivery, Warns Gift-Shoppers
By 12.22.15
The new site Jet was meant to be the e-commerce version of Costco, charging users a $50 annual fee (which they later dropped) in exchange for excellent discounts on a wide variety of merchandise. This is Jet’s first holiday season, and the good news is they have a lot of business. Unfortunately, that means that they can no longer guarantee delivery by Christmas. [More]
Amazon Launches Mobile App Referral Program Offering Users $5 (In Coupons)
By 12.17.15
Amazon thinks the future of shopping is in your hands, literally. The company recently launched a referral program that offers users of its mobile shopping app a few bucks to pass on the handheld shopping bug to friends. [More]
Kohl’s To Stay Open 170 Hours Straight For Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers
By 12.15.15
Kohl’s once again wants to make sure you’re able to mark every last item off your holiday shopping list by keeping most of its stores open for more than seven straight days leading up to Christmas. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Tries Bold Experiment In Actually Stocking Toys
By 12.15.15
Shoppers visit a store called Toys ‘R’ Us because they’re looking for toys, and because they want those toys immediately. Otherwise, wouldn’t they shop online? Yet for the last few years, Toys ‘R’ Us has considered an item “in stock” if they have only three on the shelf, losing out on sales when they didn’t have items that shoppers wanted. [More]
How You Can Actually Save Money At An Outlet Mall
By 12.14.15
Just because something is for sale in an outlet store, that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a good deal, or even that it’s cheaper than the item’s retail price. It is possible to save money while outlet-shopping, though: you just have to know when to shop, where in the store to shop, and to be savvy about programs that your local mall may offer. [More]
Would You Pay $.20/Minute To Stow Your Dog While Shopping?
By 12.9.15
There are dog watchers, dog walkers, dog hotels, and dog salons, but when you just need to keep your pooch pal outside of a store for a couple of minutes while you run an errand, do you resort to the old “tie the leash to the parking meter” technique? A startup in NYC is betting that you’ll be willing to pay for the convenience of stashing your dog in a “curbside kennel” while you shop. [More]
