Merchandising

When Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS shoes six years ago, his pitch to consumers -- buy a pair and a second one will be donated to the needy -- helped start a phenomenon retail consultants call compassionate consumerism. Since then it has been imitated widely by established brands. Inspired by TOMS, Skechers USA Inc. (SKX) (SKX) introduced a brand called BOBS, as in Benefiting Others By Shoes. Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) (URBN) stores feature apparel by Threads for Thought, which gives part of its sales proceeds to humanitarian groups.

Online merchandising teams spend considerable time grouping items together and deciding which products to display when consumers enter specific search terms. Likewise, SEM teams dedicate resources to identify the keywords and phrases that lead to the most relevant landing pages. What these teams rarely do is share how their efforts can be integrated to produce results. 

A state judge on Friday temporarily blocked plans by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to sell certain branded products at J.C. Penney stores. The preliminary injunction was a win for Macy's, which has sued Martha Stewart Living claiming it has exclusive rights to sell certain Martha Stewart products including soft furnishings, dinnerware and cookware.

Nordstrom Inc., the upscale department-store chain, navigated the recession and its aftermath better than its peers. Yet even a company that has posted average sales growth of 14 percent for the past 10 quarters isn't immune to today's fast-changing retail environment.

PriceGrabber released results from its 2012 Back-to-School Shopping Forecast survey, showing more signs of economic recovery. The survey revealed that 63 percent of consumers plan to spend up to $500 this back-to-school shopping season (compared to 48 percent in 2011). Twenty percent of respondents plan to spend between $500 and $1,000, and 17 percent of shoppers said they don't have a back-to-school shopping budget this year.

The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) today announced the launch of NFLPA Shop, a new online store featuring authentic merchandise of more than 1,800 NFL players. NFLPA Shop is the first retailer to give fans the choice to own on-demand licensed apparel of every NFL player.

Travel retail has long been a fixture for brands like Estée Lauder Cos Inc and LVMH's Louis Vuitton. But sales at airports and other travel venues have risen far more quickly in recent years than at regular stores for many chains, putting this area of retailing front and centre in many companies' expansion plans.

As customer expectations rise, the number of platforms and devices explodes. And as senior management looks for ways to achieve higher and more efficient performance, the online merchandiser’s job grows increasingly complex.

Earlier this year several major retailers, including Marks & Spencer, J Sainsbury and John Lewis earmarked the first Olympics on U.K. soil for 64 years as a major opportunity for a fillip to sales. Yet the financial stresses of recession, coupled with an absence of public holidays and unhelpful weather patterns, mean any boost may be muted.

Virgin Mobile, the pay-as-you-go carrier owned by Sprint Nextel, plans to open its first 10 retail stores Friday in Chicago, aiming to profit from the iPhone's expansion into the prepaid wireless market. Virgin Mobile will become the second U.S. prepaid service to offer the Apple device, following the iPhone's debut Friday at Leap Wireless International. The new stores also mark a strategy shift for Virgin, which has previously relied on retailers such as RadioShack and Best Buy to market its service, said Jeff Auman, a vice president at the carrier.