Retail Stores

As the crucial holiday e-tailing season approaches, Google is pulling out all the stops to get merchants on board to the new pay-for-play Google Shopping. The company announced that it will switch to all paid listings as of Oct. 17. Previously, Google product results were fueled by product feeds provided by merchants, at no charge. Back in May, Google announced Shopping results would come from paid product listing ads only, citing a need for more reliable and up-to-date data.

Retailers are pushing for changes to credit card swipe fees nearly a year to the day after they triumphed in one of the biggest lobbying battles ever. The Federal Reserve lowered the fees that merchants are charged when customers swipe a debit card last year, handing a decisive win to retailers after a multimillion dollar advocacy war with big banks. The new rates took effect on Oct. 1, 2011. With that victory notched, retailers are coming back for more.

Americans are expected to spend more during what's traditionally the busiest shopping season of the year, but they're not exactly ready to shop 'til they drop like they have been in the past two years. The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, said Tuesday that it expects sales during the winter holiday shopping period in November and December to rise 4.1 percent this year.

Is all the hand-wringing by retailers over the perceived threat of showrooming warranted? The answer, according to an August 2012 survey of adult mobile phone users in the U.S. commissioned by mobile marketing company Vibes and conducted by research company Research Now, is yes and no. Vibes’ survey found that showrooming was a decidedly mixed development for brick-and-mortar retailers. About three in 10 showrooming customers later made a purchase from the website of the store they had visited, while one-quarter bought the item they sought from a competitor.

Macy's will open Finish Line-branded athletic footwear shops in more than 450 of its department stores in the U.S. and online at macys.com. The deal is expected to result in additional sales to Finish Line of $250 million to $350 million annually. The leased departments, which will be operated by Finish Line, will start opening in spring 2013 with completion expected by fall 2014. For about 225 other Macy's stores that carry footwear, Finish Line will manage the athletic footwear assortment and inventory starting in spring 2013.

Welcome once again to #ROIChat, a weekly Twitter discussion focusing on the latest trends and most profitable practices in the cross-channel retail industry. The holidays are only a few months away, and you can bet that retailers everywhere have been gearing up for the ensuing madness. How should retailers be preparing for the holiday shopping season? What's changed this year from last? Bring your best ideas, most relevant articles and favorite blog posts to share with the group.

Retail marketers are spending most of their time building their brands and driving sales, and aren't as focused on engaging customers or building customer loyalty, finds RSR Research in a September report. Asked to rank various priorities according to how much time their company's marketing department spends on each activity, 29 percent said building the brand was their highest priority, matched by the 29 percent who said driving sales was their top priority.

I just came back from Shop.org's Annual Summit in Denver, where over 4,000 retailers and industry supporters came to learn more about what the industry was up to. While I was there I thought I would spend some time interviewing some of my retailer friends and bring their words to you.

Have you seen the latest Costco commercial? No? That's because it doesn't exist. Costco runs on a business model that's fueled by word-of-mouth. Usually when people think of Costco they think of buying in bulk. But after a while, that becomes old news and customers need a new reason to talk. That's where wedding gowns, a $3,000 toilet, caskets and mortgages come in — it's all about the unexpected surprises while shopping that sparks conversation about the store.

Alessandro Benetton is on a mission to find a cure for the ailing global economy and he's asking 100 million or so jobless young people to chip in with ideas. The 48-year-old chairman of Benetton launched the family business's latest "UNHATE" advertising campaign on Tuesday, highlighting the plight of unemployed people under 30 who are striving to find meaningful work every day. Benetton believes the generation appearing in a market-place where the old economic models are not providing them with the kinds of opportunities that kept their fathers in work for decades need to be tapped for ideas.