
Pricing

One thing retailers can count on in January is innovation. Each year, retailers across the globe gather for Retail’s BIG Show hosted by the National Retail Federation (NRF). This year’s event covered the usual topics, such as payment technologies and improving the customer experience, but also demonstrated that there’s a big shift affecting the retail…
British luxury fashion brand Burberry is to face a class-action lawsuit in the United States, claiming it used misleading price tags at its outlets stores to fool shoppers into believing they were getting big bargains. The company, which specifically manufactures some of the products for its outlet stores, is accused of intentionally presenting false price information on…
Coach seems to be achieving the nearly unattainable in retail: giving a brand that was cheapened by years of discounts its luster back. The handbag maker reported on Tuesday that net sales rose 7 percent to $1.27 billion in its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 26, buoyed by growth in China and its men’s lines. More importantly,…
You may have heard of Rent the Runway, a service that lets shoppers rent outfits (generally dresses and accessories) for special occasions. Instead of buying a $400 dress and wearing it once, you rent it for $65 and then send it back. Only they’ve made an interesting change recently, offering house brands alongside those runway…
The holiday season has arrived and people are lining up outside of stores for the best deals. And they’re increasingly shopping online, with the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasting that online sales will increase between 6 percent and 8 percent this year. Meanwhile, retailers are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. Sales…
This year there will be no rest for the holiday shopping weary. As part of the growing trend to start holiday sales earlier, Wal-Mart has announced that it will begin its Cyber Monday sales the Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend. The first round of deals will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Sun., Nov. 29 and…
Rolling out Black Friday deals every 10 minutes apparently wasn't enough for Amazon.com. Starting Friday and running through the day after Thanksgiving, the online retailer will one-up itself by adding new holiday deals as often as every five minutes. That compares to last season, when it launched a new promotion every 10 minutes.
According to a 2015 Bain & Company Insights report, “price optimization models are mathematical programs that calculate how demand varies at different price levels, then combine that data with information on costs and inventory levels to recommend prices that will improve profits.” However, the journey towards price optimization doesn’t begin with a mathematical program, it…
Fundamental data such as sales and category share is the lifeblood of today’s best-performing brands in the brick-and-mortar world. Their long-term strategies and everyday execution — for example, knowing which categories and retailers they should be under- or overinvesting in — are measured and closely managed by these critical indicators. However, despite the exponential growth…
Wal-Mart plans to offer most of its Black Friday discounts to online shoppers hours before they become available in stores, as the company attempts to hold off challenges by Amazon.com and other e-commerce rivals. The world’s biggest retailer, which said it still expects to draw record crowds even with the online push, will make the…