If you’re in the market for skincare products from the Home Shopping Network, you might be out of luck, as the company removed every trace of well-known host Dr. Sheldon Sevinor — and his products — from its website after the plastic surgeon’s arrest for allegedly buying cocaine. [More]
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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]
Majority Of Shoppers Using Amazon To Search For Products, Even If They Buy Elsewhere
By 9.27.16
For years we’ve talked about “showrooming” — the practice of going to a bricks-and-mortar retailer just to look at a product you intend to buy online, and now Amazon has apparently supplanted traditional search engines as the place for most Americans to begin their product hunt.
[More]
Lululemon Wants 40% Of Its Business To Come From Male Shoppers Someday
By 9.23.16
It seems anti-ball crushing pants were just the start of Lululemon’s campaign to appeal to male shoppers, with the athleisure company’s CEO saying he wants 40% of the brand’s sales to come from men someday. [More]
The First Choice Amazon Gives You To Buy Isn’t Necessarily The Cheapest
By 9.20.16
E-commerce giant Amazon prides itself on being a customer-centric company, but in Amazon’s world, that generally means encouraging its shoppers and its third-party merchants to buy more services from Amazon. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing for consumers, but it doesn’t mean that we get the cheapest prices, either. [More]
Walmart Patents Rolling Army Of Autonomous RoboCarts
By 9.13.16
In the last few years, Walmart has had problems with security and with keeping its shelves stocked, but of which it was able to fix by adding or re-allocating staff. One way that it could solve that problem is by having robots perform some tasks that robots can handle, and a patent that Walmart recently filed indicates that carts and merchandise that move themselves around may be coming to your local store. RoboCart? [More]
IKEA Betting Click-And-Collect Stores Will Appeal To Online Shoppers
By 9.13.16
If the thought of wandering through a giant maze of housewares and furniture and inevitably fighting with your significant other/roommate over which dish rack to buy strikes fear into the very depths of your online shopper’s soul, IKEA’s recent shift in strategy is aimed at attracting shoppers like you. [More]
Bankruptcy Judge Approves Sale Of Aeropostale That Could Keep 229 Stores Open
By 9.13.16
It looks like the bid Aeropostale received at the end of August that could end up saving at least 229 stores and 7,000 or so jobs is one step closer to the real thing for the struggling teen retailer, after a bankruptcy judge gave the offer his approval. [More]
Woman Stuck By Needle In Target Parking Lot Awarded $4.6M
By 9.12.16
More than two years after a woman was pricked by a hypodermic needle her daughter picked up in a Target parking lot, a jury has awarded her more than $4.6 million. [More]
Walmart Starting Holiday Layaway Early Again So It Can Sell More ‘Star Wars’ Stuff
By 9.1.16
You want Star Wars merchandise this holiday season? Walmart has Star Wars stuff, which is the entire reason the retailer is kicking off its holiday layaway program a full two weeks early for the second year in a row. [More]
Abercrombie & Fitch Not Focused On Sexy Abs Now, Just Wants You To Be Your “Best Self”
By 8.30.16
We’ve come a long way from the days of glistening abs stretching across every Abercrombie & Fitch billboard and shopping bag, and “cool” executives who’d rather not deal with any uncool customers: as the company continues its campaign toward wholesomeness, the new focus is on making shoppers feel good about themselves. [More]
Video Claims To Show Price Discrepancies Of Up To 78% At L.A. Zara Store
By 8.30.16
Last week, a Zara customer filed a lawsuit against the company accusing it of misleading customers by posting some prices in euros and others in U.S. dollars, and of making up its own exchange rates to charge more for those items with price tags in dollars. The plaintiff’s lawyers now say they have even more proof of this pricing switcheroo. [More]
Best Buy Increasing Online Sales, Still Not Dead
By 8.23.16
A few years ago, it seemed like Best Buy was nothing more than a poorly decorated Amazon and Newegg showroom, and the business of big-box electronics stores was doomed. Sometimes, though, the popular wisdom isn’t true, and an electronics store that appears to be doomed can make a comeback. [More]
Gap Can’t Seem To Stop Being Normal, And That’s Its Big Problem
By 8.19.16
A few years ago, Gap realized that telling its customers to “Dress Normal” wasn’t such a great idea: customers were turned off, and sales plummeted. That air of normalcy is still plaguing the company. [More]
Report: There Are 1.2M Fewer Retail Workers Than There Would Be Without The Internet
By 8.18.16
What would the retail landscape look like if we didn’t have the Internet and online shopping? No one can say, for sure (unless you know someone who can travel to parallel universes*), but one analyst says there’d be about 1.2 million more people with jobs in retail. [More]
Monkey Gets Loose In Walmart Parking Lot, Throws Down With Employee
By 8.16.16
What happens when a monkey gets loose in a Walmart parking lot and jumps a store employee? Someone catches the whole thing on video, that’s what happens, and the Internet goes crazy. [More]
Retailers Trying To Lure College Customers Now So They’ll Become Lifelong Shoppers
By 8.12.16
Often when a shopper is loyal to a brand, product, or company, it’s simply because they have a long history with it. That’s why retailers are trying to hook college-age students now — even before full-time jobs bring them a disposable income — in the hopes that they’ll become lifelong shoppers. [More]
