Retail Stores

After more than 50 years in business, JC's 5 Star Outlet/J.C. Penney Outlet will be closing all 15 outlet stores in 14 states. "Going Out of Business" or "Total Inventory Blowout" sales will start Wednesday in each outlet store, offering consumers $70 million worth of name brand and private label products at significant discounts from the already low outlet prices of 25 percent to 75 percent off comparative retail. The outlet stores trace their roots to J.C. Penney's 1962 purchase of a Milwaukee mail order company, the General Merchandise Company.

Eyewear marketer Warby Parker has built four physical stores in the last five months, but there was a time when its founders thought they would connect with consumers only through the web and by mailing out home try-on kits, according to Neil Blumenthal, co-CEO at Warby Parker. "We didn't originally think we were going into stores," Blumenthal said in this interview from the Ad Age space at Advertising Week.

Most people like Thanksgiving to have passed before setting up Christmas decorations and jumping into winter holiday mode. For marketers, however, it's now become standard to embrace the winter holiday mentality long before Thanksgiving — in fact, before Halloween even. According to a new survey from Experian Marketing Services, 49 percent of marketers said they will launch holiday campaigns before Oct. 31. 

With global e-commerce sales reaching over $1 trillion in 2012, it's easy to see why so many companies are taking their business online. One online retailer in particular, Amazon.com, continues to set the standards for online retailing. In the second quarter of 2013 alone, the e-commerce giant reached over $15 billion in revenue. What's its secret? More importantly, what can other online retailers learn from the success of Amazon? 

E-commerce giant eBay today made its latest moves to blur the lines between online and offline commerce, and it's chosen the U.K. to do it in. eBay launched a new "Click & Collect" service, which enables shoppers to buy goods from eBay online and then select a physical retail location where the product(s) can be delivered. On top of this, eBay said it will be bringing its same-day delivery option, eBay Now, to the U.K., its first push outside of the U.S. for the service.

J.C. Penney is going against the retail trend and dumping its newly installed in-store Wi-Fi. The department-store company, which invested about $12 million installing the free, publicly accessible Wi-Fi last year, will save about $7 million a year by halting the service, sources familiar with the situation told BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity. While mobile checkout devices will still use wireless internet, it won't work for the public — or for store employees’ personal phones, sources say, leading to some unhappy grumbling on Twitter.

While the percentage of retailers who think they know about their customers is rising, fewer retailers think they're proficient in using that knowledge for marketing purposes. According to a new study from RSR Research, 36 percent of retail marketers said their customer loyalty program is a foundational element of their marketing strategy, compared to 32 percent last year. In addition, 28 percent of retail marketers said their company knows who its best shoppers are, compared to 22 percent last year. Yet only 15 percent said their company is proficient at targeted marketing across channels, compared to 18 percent last year.

Target announced last week the launch of an enhanced baby experience program in 10 existing Chicago-area stores. The test program aims to create a more compelling shopping experience — with an emphasis on in-store service — through a redesigned layout, the service of Baby Advisors, and interactive digital content and expert advice in partnership with the parenting resource BabyCenter, the announcement said. Tapping into the growing consumer demand for personalized service, the Baby Advisor is said to offer unbiased information about all baby products sold in the store. 

The rumors have abounded for more than six months: unconfirmed whispers that Google will open up its own major chain of consumer retail stores. The company has dipped its toes into the retail waters with Chromebook-focused kiosks in the U.S. and the U.K. over the past few years, with installations inside larger retailers like Best Buy, Dixons and Currys. Yet while kiosks — particularly those staffed by Google employees — offer some value in promoting Google's products and services, the company has a much greater opportunity for late 2013 into 2014. Kiosks aren't going to foment a retail revolution. 

Recently, Urban Outfitters has been making some pretty big waves. In July, the retailer discontinued a T-shirt for its design's resemblance to a Chicago street gang's symbol. Urban Outfitter's states it had no knowledge of the symbol or its affiliation to the gang. Now, Urban Outfitters has submitted a liquor license application for its planned Williamsburg store in North Brooklyn, NY. The area, once filled with meat packing facilities and a grocery store, has undergone changes from industrial to commercial, as bars, clubs and retailers are opening locations in the morphing neighborhood.