Big retailers go mobile to speed customer traffic
Major retailers such as Walmart and Target are drawing on mobile technology to help customers speed up their visits this holiday season, abandoning their old strategy of prolonging in-store stays. Digital tools for finding items and employees checking out items on the floor using mobile devices are among the...
What will the future of retail look like?
Does measuring success for a modern retail company look different than in the past? To explore that question, NRF recently held its second Candid Discussion on the Future of Retail, bringing together top Wall Street analysts, economists, journalists and retail executives for a conversation about what’s going on in...
How retailers have retooled for the age of Amazon
An improved economy and rising consumer confidence have US shoppers heading back to the stores and retailers that have mastered omnichannel, including Walmart and Target, are winning. “The retailers that get it recognize that Amazon has forever changed consumer behavior,” marketing professor Barbara Kahn said. Read more …
Checkout line important when choosing grocers
Expectation of checkout experience was one of the three main factors on the minds of shoppers who choose regularly from multiple supermarkets, according to a study from Forrester Research and Digimarc. Prices and store location were also top deciding factors in the study. Read more …
Small grocers challenge supermarket concept
Small, community grocers are popping up across the country, forcing traditional supermarkets to rethink their offerings and customer engagement. From DMG Foods in Baltimore, founded after the riots of 2015 in part to restore the community, to Nada, a package-free store in Vancouver, Canada, where customers pick out exactly...
Retail shrink decreased in 2017
Thefts, fraud and other losses from other retail “shrink” decreased to $46.8 billion in 2017 from $48.9 billion the year before, according to the annual National Retail Security Survey released today by NRF and the University of Florida. Shrink averaged 1.33% of sales, down from 1.44%. Read more …
How technology is changing the role of the retail employee
Retailers are increasingly combining in-store and online operations, a trend that’s changing the face of retail jobs, Miles Jennings writes. Retail employees will need to be tech-savvy salespeople who know their way around social media, he writes. Read more …
How retailers are responding to tax reform
Retailers are beginning to assess what the new tax code means for their businesses. Walmart, Starbucks, The Home Depot, Best Buy, Chipotle and others have announced plans to invest in their workforces because of tax reform, and more than 3 million American workers are receiving special bonuses, higher wages...
Why We Should Be Optimistic About Retail
A number of stores and retailers may closing, but many others are making the positive changes needed to position them for the future, longtime retail consultants Joel Bines and David Bassuk write. Store closings are paring down overcapacity, retailers are reducing debt and merchants are growing bolder in their...