ICSC predicts 4 percent rise in holiday retail revenue

October 9, 2014

Positive economic signals point to a stronger holiday shopping season as the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) forecasts a 4.0 percent increase…

Survey says U.S. consumers plan to spend more this holiday season

October 9, 2014

Holiday gift purchases expected to average $718; Consumer enthusiasm for Black Friday shopping hits eight-year peak.

Study says shoppers are abandoning mobile shopping carts due to poor customer care

October 8, 2014

New research from Contact Solutions shows that consumers have high expectations for retail care when shopping via mobile device, and if those expectations…

StepsAway brings location-based marketing to mall retailers

October 8, 2014

Retailers using the StepsAway solution at launch include Sephora, Express, Art of Shaving and Things Remembered, among others.

Moment.me launches tool for real-time aggregation of place-based social content

October 7, 2014

According to the company, business owners can simply input an address or the name of their establishment and Moment.me will aggregate all the content that has…

NRF forecasts holiday sales to increase 4.1 percent

October 7, 2014

Holiday sales on average have grown 2.9 percent over the past 10 years, including estimates for 2014, and are expected to represent approximately 19.2 percent…

Macy's omnichannel strategy: Moving engagement as well as sweaters

by Bryan Pearson — President, LoyaltyOne

Do bricks and mortar cost more than bytes and channels? For Macy's, the question may not matter as much as whether the two investments, combined, sell more…

Christopher & Banks focuses on inclusiveness, launches 'missy-petite-women' format

October 3, 2014

Christopher & Banks will operate approximately 190 stores with this real estate and merchandise format that brings the CJ Banks brand under the Christopher …

Quri launches Impact tool to track in-store conditions

October 2, 2014

Impact performs a granular, real-time analysis of in-store conditions data, including location, merchandising efforts and inventory.

How mobile changes consumer behavior

by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

When 82 percent of U.S. adults own smartphones, and 91 percent keep them with them at all times, a mobile strategy for retail becomes more important than ever.

Sephora, Starbucks, Home Depot rank highest in digital gifting benchmark

September 30, 2014

Sephora, which has ranked among the top five spots for the past two years, took the number one spot for the first time this year.

Generation D and brand identity

A lot of companies across the globe are going to die over the next few years – not because of macroeconomic stress, but because there is an entire emerging…

Bigcommerce launches real-time analytics platform for retailers

September 30, 2014

Bigcommerce Analytics delivers information such as best-selling products, popular categories, average order value (AOV), purchase funnel analysis, abandoned…

Why back-to-school is still in play for retailers

The beginning of school does not mean the end of this seasonal retail rush.

South Korean firm acquires shopkick mobile app

September 29, 2014

SKP seeks to expand its global market reach with U.S. entry and intends to expand beyond mobile with online and offline shopping experiences.

Are you prepared for the mobile revolution? Take this 10-question quiz to find out.

If you're not up to speed on mobile and all of its implications for retail, you will find the future to be very challenging.

Report says social media less important in the shopping process than two years ago

September 26, 2014

According to the report, compared to 2012, less importance is being placed on following retailers on social media, finding out about new products through…

Amazon lets shoppers add items to wishlist via Tweets

September 25, 2014

The announcement comes after the recent launch of a similar service, #AmazonCart, which uses the same functionality to add products to a user's Amazon shopping…

Gamification, digital coupon companies join forces

September 24, 2014

In their initial campaign, Dailybreak and RevTrax achieved results that were above key industry benchmarks, with 47 percent of consumers printing the coupon…

Forecast says retail holiday sales to increase 4 to 4.5 percent

September 24, 2014

Digital interactions expected to influence 50 percent of retail store sales; Non-store sales to rise 13.5 to 14 percent.