Retail Stores

The internet has upended nearly every industry, but perhaps no category has undergone a more radical transformation than retail. Near-global access to the internet and speedy adoption rates of smartphones have spawned countless changes to the way we shop and how retailers compete. In the coming years, there will be many more changes, but here are three big trends to watch for:

Google has developed a way to match the ads you view online to the purchases you make offline by developing a program that tracks you all the way to the store. The In-Store Attribution Transaction Reporting in AdWorks’ pilot program lets Google tell online advertisers — which spend the majority of their budgets on Google — which digital ad views convert to direct in-store sales. "Clicks are just the beginning, and everyone knows that there's more value to tying ads to purchases," advertising technology company myThings CEO Benny Arbel said in a Wall Street Journal report. 

Wal-Mart's brand value is waning, as competitors like Amazon.com have dulled its low-price edge. By contrast, the savvy use of big data to customize shoppers’ wants and needs has catapulted the brand equity of retailers as disparate as Whole Foods and Macy's. That's some of what Interbrand's 2014 Best Retail Brands report revealed. The annual report from the brand consultancy, released today, ranks the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands and the leading store brands internationally.

At Nordstrom, customers drive innovation, and the retailer continues to dream up, test and execute improvements to its customers’ shopping experience. One tool at its disposal is the Customer Experience Center — a prototype space that brings salespeople, vendors and customers to one location to share feedback and thoughts on new concepts before they're introduced in Nordstrom stores. 

Whether purchasing a car, a pair of shoes or a computer, both brick-and-mortar retail and e-tail have very important roles in the world of commerce. Retail acts as the showroom, where consumers can experience a product for the first time, while e-tail allows them to build confidence in the price they pay for a product as well as research all of their options in a convenient, real-time format. Choosing one over the other forces your customers to choose, too. And in today's competitive retail world, they'll likely choose the brand that offers both options.

With retailers from Wal-Mart to Staples talking about building smaller stores, you'd think that's the direction the industry is heading. This is until you see what Restoration Hardware is doing. Restoration Hardware shares on Friday surged up to 14 percent in its biggest daily percentage gain since June after the retailer of luxury home furnishings erased fears that it would follow other retailers and report disappointing results after a shorter holiday selling season and wintry weather that led to store closings. Instead, it reported a fourth-quarter profit in line with its prior forecast.

Sales momentum is perceptibly slowing in most retail stores. This was noticeably true in 2013 when total retail sales increased by only 2.2 percent and GAFO (General Merchandise, Apparel, Furniture, and Other) sales decreased by 0.6 percent. These tepid numbers reflect consumer apathy and general economic concerns. Shopping malls no longer have surging crowds except on special event days like Black Friday. Reports indicate that the internet is making up for some of the lost store traffic. It's increasingly evident that the shift from shopping in-store to shopping online is permanent and still rising.

Nordstrom is bringing low-price fashion jewelry into its luxury department store chain with the hope that younger shoppers will follow suit. On Monday, the company will begin selling jewelry from BaubleBar, a popular online retailer. BaubleBar launched its website three years ago with the hopes of making fashion jewelry more accessible to the average shopper. With online traffic now at more than 1 million visitors per month, the founders have decided to expand the company's presence into traditional retail spaces, too.

The pressure is on for apparel retailers, as two new competitors are planning their entry into the U.S. discount space. Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M said on Thursday it will bring two of its secondary retail brands, & Other Stories and COS, to the U.S. this year. Last week, General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani told CNBC the retailer was looking to bring these concepts to the U.S. The higher-priced COS brand will open two domestic locations, in

Jim Brett was haunted by mud-colored squares. When he started as West Elm's president in 2010, he couldn't believe how a furniture store could have so many products designed with such little imagination. "I was like, 'Oh, my God, what's with the brown boxes?'" he says. "The whole brand was brown boxes made in China. There wasn't a curve in the store!" From couches to beds to dressers, much of the line consisted of