Pricing

Struggling Retailer Kmart Turns the Blue Light Back On
November 2, 2015 at 10:55 am

Attention Kmart shoppers: the struggling discount chain is bringing back the "Bluelight Special" in the hopes the iconic marketing approach it pioneered decades ago will breathe life into its store and online sales. The retailer started sounding the blue sirens used to flag the surprise, 15-minute long deals to shoppers at its 942 stores on Friday,โ€ฆ

Lord & Taylor Launches New Store to Compete with Nordstrom Rack
October 26, 2015 at 10:55 am

Looking to compete with the Nordstrom Racks and Saks Off 5ths of the world, Lord & Taylor is launching its first off-price store, Women's Wear Daily reports. The new "Find @ Lord & Taylor" shops will offer a selection of women's, men's, kid's, footwear and home products that have been marked down 70 percent. Lordโ€ฆ

lululemon Hosts Rare Sale Event; Consumers Line Up
October 16, 2015 at 11:17 am

lululemon, the popular luxury athletic wear brand, is holding a three-day warehouse sale at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston this weekend. The sale is a rare event for the company: lululemon sells 95 percent of its gear at full price, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The website does list cheaper items tagged under โ€œWe Madeโ€ฆ

The Positive Side to Price Discrimination
October 6, 2015 at 9:43 am

Price discrimination gets a bad rap. Google the phrase โ€œprice discriminationโ€ and youโ€™ll find articles on large health, entertainment, insurance and even mail companies being investigated for illegal price discrimination โ€”  i.e., the practice of charging different price points to different customers for the same product. The word discrimination itself is loaded. It's a termโ€ฆ

Uber-Style Surge Pricing May Catch On With Retailers
October 5, 2015 at 11:29 am

For some, โ€œsurge pricing,โ€ the use of algorithms to automate price increases on products and services in periods of high demand and limited supply, adheres to a basic principle of the free market economy. Others see it as a form of price gouging. Regardless of your point of view, the use of surge pricing appearsโ€ฆ

Study Finds Amazon Pricing is Tough to Beat
October 1, 2015 at 11:15 am

Which top retailer has the lowest prices? Online sellers know how competitive the Amazon.com marketplace is, but they may be wondering how it compares to other sites on pricing and product assortment. A new report from Boomerang Commerce takes a look and finds that Amazon wins on scores in the consumer electronics category and, surprisingly, Wal-Martโ€ฆ

Target Expands Price-Matching Policy to 29 Rivals
September 30, 2015 at 11:02 am

Matching online prices was once considered a risky proposition for brick-and-mortar retailers. Now itโ€™s the norm. The newest evidence comes from Target, which is about to expand the number of online competitors it will match prices with to 29 from five. The updated policy, which goes into effect Thursday, includes giants like Macys.com and Staples.com as wellโ€ฆ

USPS to Help Alibaba Get Goods to American Consumers
September 17, 2015 at 1:02 pm

The US Postal Service will help get Alibaba merchandise into the hands of US consumers more quickly. The agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alibaba's logistics firm Cainiao to work together to develop new international shipping solutions and enhance the logistics-service experience for sellers and buyers. Alibaba said the global B2C cross-border e-commerce marketโ€ฆ