Management

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss an article recently published on Total Retail, “The Retail Apocalypse: 5 Dangerous Competitive Trends Explained,” written by Hubert Paul, director at Simon-Kucher & Partners. The first trend identified in the article is that direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) brands have become major category…

Walmart announced today that it will be testing different healthcare pilot programs for its U.S. employees starting Jan. 1, according to CNBC. Healthcare is one of the largest expenses for the retailer after wages, so it's looking for ways to cut costs. A pilot program launched in Arkansas, Florida, and Texas will connect patients with…

Fashion chain Forever 21 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The privately held company based in Los Angeles said Sunday it will close up to 178 stores in the U.S. According to the bankruptcy filing, the company operates about 800 stores globally, including more than 500 stores in the U.S. Forever 21 said it would focus…

lululemon is planning to wind down its ivivva kids business, which includes shuttering a handful of remaining stores, as part of a bid to grow men’s and international sales. The company said its seven remaining standalone ivivva stores — three in Canada and four in the U.S. — will close by the middle of next year. The…

eBay CEO Devin Wenig parted ways with the company yesterday, according to Reuters. Wenig, who has been in the role for four years, cited differences with eBay's board of directors as the reason he decided to step down. Recently, the board was revamped and is looking to sell some of the company's assets, Reuters reported.…

While the U.S. economic outlook is looking healthy based on recent stock market gains, peering into the retail sector reveals fundamental cracks in its landscape that indicate a state of decline. This retail apocalypse has malls and stores disappearing at a disturbing rate. There have been over 7,000 closings so far in 2019, a figure which…

When an ambitious entrepreneur or leader launches a retail business — whether e-commerce or brick-and-mortar — one of the first and most pressing considerations should always be scalability. Specifically, this translates to the potential for a product, structure or process to stretch to meet the size and scale of the given customer landscape. As business…

J.Crew announced last week that it has filed documents with regulators to prepare for an initial public offering for its fast-growing denim brand, Madewell. According to the filing with the SEC, Chinos Holdings, J.Crew's subsidiary, will be renamed Madewell before the IPO. The company didn't disclose the size of the offering or its target price range, but said it…

Insights That Will Help Your Business Maximize Sales and Profits

Upscale candy retailer Sugarfina filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday and will immediately close six of its 44 boutique stores, reports CandyIndustry.com. The brand cited shifts in the retail sector, uncertainty in its international partnerships, and difficulty in controlling margins as reasons for not being profitable, and reports having $26.65 million in debt. Sugarfina began searching for…