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]
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Toys ‘R’ Us Will Once Again Open At 5 PM On Thanksgiving, Stay Open For 30 Hours Straight
By 11.7.16
DirectBuy Wants Everyone To Know Its Business Model Is Less Terrible Now
By 11.4.16
Yesterday, we shared the news that DirectBuy, a company often featured on this very site for its anti-consumer practices, had filed for bankruptcy protection. However, the company wants to make sure that you know something: it has been making changes to become less terrible, including monthly fees instead of multi-year contracts. [More]
Guy Dresses As 12-Foot CVS Receipt, Redeems Costume’s Discount Code At Actual CVS
By 11.1.16
We’ve seen creative consumers poking fun at CVS for its infamously long receipts in the past, but one Halloween reveler took the idea a bit more literally by dressing as a giant CVS sales slip, complete with working discount code. [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]
Groceries & Millennials: They’re Buying Less, Shopping Online
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
From Whole Foods launching a supposedly hipper 365 brand of stores to Target’s mini-stores aimed at attracting young shoppers, retailers across the board have millennials in their crosshairs. But a new report suggests those efforts have been for naught, with younger shoppers continuing to seek out e-commerce options when it comes to grocery shopping. [More]
Walmart Tackling Long Checkout Lines This Holiday Season With Troop Of “Helpers”
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
After spending your precious time plodding up and down the aisles of the local big box store, marking off items on your holiday shopping list, the last thing you want to do is wait in the checkout line for an hour. Walmart’s new plan to avoid this annoyance involves specialized teams whose only jobs will be to keep these lines moving. [More]
Target Confirms Holiday Plans: Gift Guides, Free Shipping, Rotating Promotions
By 10.25.16
Yes, we’re going to have to accept that the holiday shopping season has begun. Today, Target announced its holiday promotional plans, which include discounts that rotate through departments, free shipping for online orders, and app-based toy coupons. [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]
Supervalu Selling Off Save-A-Lot Supermarket Chain For $1.4B
By 10.17.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Supermarket operator Supervalu will have one fewer chain in its portfolio soon, after announcing that it’s selling off discount grocer Save-A-Lot to a Canadian investment group for $1.37 billion. [More]
NYC Pharmacy Instituting 7% “Man Tax” To Highlight Gender Pricing Discrimination
By 10.11.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
In an effort to bring awareness to discrimination in gender pricing — for example, charging a so-called “pink tax” on feminine hygiene products — one New York pharmacy has a new rule: male customers have to pay a 7% tax on items for men. [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]
Amazon Dash Shopping Wand Now Lets Users Order Any Prime Item They Want
By 10.5.16 — Updated: 10.6.16
While Amazon has been busy expanding its selection of Dash buttons, which allow shoppers to reorder a designated product with one click, it’s also updating its two-year-old Dash shopping wand: users can now use it to order anything they want, instead of just groceries from AmazonFresh. [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]
Report: 34M People Have Already Started Holiday Shopping
By 9.29.16
While some of us haven’t yet gotten all the beach sand out of shoes or pulled out the fall blankets, there are 34 million people out there who are already in the holiday spirit and have started shopping. [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]
