How can retailers better manage out-of-stocks?
How to solve a problem like out-of-stocks? The best retail minds have pondered this for decades, and yet empty store shelves still sabotage sales, ding retailers’ cred and threaten customer loyalty. Here’s some advice from three retail experts.
Retail sales grew 0.3% in April
April retail sales grew 0.3% seasonally adjusted over March and 3% unadjusted year-over-year, according to NRF’s calculations, which exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants. When looking at business lines, performance in April was driven by online and other non-store sellers, electronics stores and building materials and supplies. Read more...
Brick & Mortars Need an E-Commerce Mindset to Survive
Brokerage firm Credit Suisse estimates that more than 8,600 brick-and-mortar stores will close their doors in 2017. This projection trumps the rate of closures experienced during the 2008 recession, which is the worst year on record. Some retailers, like the aforementioned JCPenney, are succumbing to the pressures placed on...
Five Reasons Why ‘The Retail Apocalypse’ Is A False Scare Story
Dramatic headlines touting the demise of retail may win clicks, but they’re not telling an accurate story, analyst and retail veteran Paula Rosenblum writes. Retail sales rose 4.1% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, thousands of new stores are set to open this year...
How we’re transitioning — slowly — to a cashless society
The consumer transition to digital payments and mobile wallets has been slower than expected. But the movement is unmistakable and will eventually lead to a cashless society, writes John Rampton, who examines the current terminology and state of play. Read more …
How online is transforming brick-and-mortar retail
Online retail still accounts for less than 10% of total US retail spending, but its rapid rise is transforming the face of the retail space. Digital retail’s influence is felt across the spectrum, from malls in decline to thriving Amazon fulfillment centers to shopping centers that are going through...
Is the rocky road to EMV retail adoption getting smoother?
There was plenty of confusion to go around in October 2015, with only a small percentage of retailers ready to roll when the deadline passed for them to become EMV-compliant by installing new EMV-capable credit card readers and acquiring certifications from various payment networks. Now that over a year,...
The Real Reason Retail Is In Trouble
Today, yet another chain announced it is filing for bankruptcy, HH Gregg a consumer electronics retailer. The closings, downsizings and bankruptcies seem to be piling up faster and faster. It would be very easy to say there’s too many stores anyway and we’re probably heading for a recession and...
Social Media a Top Investment for Grocers
About 75% of grocers are investing significantly or moderately in reaching consumers on social media, according to a report from Aptaris and Dunnhumby, taking to Facebook and Twitter for most of their social media efforts. The report also found that most grocers measure their social media success using likes,...
Why So Many Stores Are Closing: The Changing Face of Loyalty
Once, location trumped nearly everything else in retail. Growing up in the 1980’s, I was loyal to my local Macy’s Store in the Brunswick Square Mall where I grew up in New Jersey. Back then, success lay in creating loyal customers who lived close enough to regularly patronize your...