Retail Stores

In conjunction with its 15th annual Mystery Shopping Study conducted in the fourth quarter of last year, the e-tailing group has released its Customer Experience Index results. This year's list of retailers who scored 80 out 100 points range from the large retailers to several specialty merchants, long known for retailing excellence. Williams-Sonoma, Amazon.com, Toys"R"Us and Barnes & Noble are to be congratulated on their impressive back-to-back wins.

Retail sales ticked up in the month of January as consumers adjusted their spending in response to the increase in payroll taxes and rise in gasoline and energy prices. According to the National Retail Federation, January retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.3 percent seasonally adjusted from December and increased 5.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Make no mistake, showrooming is crushing brick-and-mortar, increasingly pushing in-store sales online, where they're almost always inevitably cheaper. With online retail spend growing 16 percent last year, and retailers like Best Buy and Target recently creating Amazon.com price-matching policies, there's no denying the trend.

If holiday 2012 was any sign of the aggressively evolving retail landscape, we can expect 2013 to hold the same promise. Industry experts gathered at the National Retail Federation's Annual Big Show in New York City to discuss just this. The four-day conference featured 27,600 attendees from across the globe, each bringing a fresh perspective on their industry's outlook. Today we'll take a look at the top emerging themes for 2013 from the NRF conference. Below each, you'll also see some of the ways Google is getting involved to assist you in driving these initiatives in the months to come.

Alexis Maybank, the co-founder of Gilt Groupe, discusses what it took to launch a luxury brand online when many partners didn't understand the basics of e-commerce, the evolution of retail and the harsh reality of "showrooming."

Amazon extends its domination of e-retail into the mobile platform, according to the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index: Holiday Retail Edition, released today by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee. In a survey of more than 6,200 consumers collected during the peak holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the retail juggernaut scored highest among 25 of the top mobile commerce companies. The report shows that consumer satisfaction with the mobile retail experience is improving, as the Index climbs two points since last holiday season to 78 on a 100-point scale.

Never have I seen so much bad news about a company I really like. I think Ron Johnson, president and CEO of J.C. Penney, is a capable strategist. His idea to streamline the company and reduce sales is admirable. While his instincts may have been right, his guidance of the operation has been flawed. For starters, he never tested his merchandise pricing concept prior to putting it into action. Now the news is getting very bad, which will only make matters worse for the future of the company. Bad news begets bad news. Here are some recent observations:

The Home Depot Canada has joined other Canadian retailers in complying with the government's planned phase out of the penny. However, the retailer noted that many Canadians were unaware of the phaseout, and wanted to ensure its customers that it's doing its best to inform them of the change. As of Feb. 4, the penny will no longer be in circulation. 

As Retail's BIG Show was in full swing, crowding the giant Jacob Javits Convention Center yesterday afternoon, a smaller, select group of retail CMOs were putting their heads together in a meeting across New York, focusing on the future of retail marketing. The RAMA CMO Summit brought together an exclusive group of senior retail marketing and advertising executives for some valuable networking among their retail peers and exploration of the hot topics on their minds.

The Barneys New York biannual warehouse sale is the stuff of legends, and easily one of the most anticipated shopping events in New York City every August and February. But now you can get deals on designer duds all year round, minus the aggressive shoppers throwing elbows at you. Barneys announced it's launching a full-time off-price website. Barneyswarehouse.com will debut this coming Monday, WWD is reporting.