Retail Stores

Macy's reported a significant increase in sales for the first quarter, thanks to a strong performance in its online business. The company reported that total sales for the quarter increased 4.3 percent to $6.1 billion. Online sales for the quarter increased 33.7 percent and contributed 1.5 percentage points to the company's same-store sales increase of 4.4 percent for the period. Macy's reported an earnings increase of 43 percent to 43 cents per diluted share, compared with 30 cents per diluted share in the same period last year. 

Shoppers in the United States earning at least $150,000 annually rank Nordstrom highest among luxury retailers, according to a survey by the Luxury Institute. According to the 2012 Luxury Consumer Experience Index, which ranks retailers based on customers’ evaluations of a brand's store personnel, shopping environment and degree of satisfaction with the total experience, Nordstrom earns the top overall score of 8.41 out of 10, followed by Bergdorf Goodman (8.37) and Barneys New York (8.23). Nordstrom was also the most widely visited luxury retailer, with 36 percent of respondents reporting shopping at Nordstrom in the past 12 months.

/PRNewswire/ -- Today, Piperlime, the online shop known for the freshest styles in fashion, announced it will open its first retail store this fall, at 121 Wooster St. in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. The new 4,000 square foot Piperlime store will offer a similar curated assortment as online, immersing consumers in the brand's unique shopping experience. Styled as a boutique, the store will feature the best range of coveted, iconic brands like Milly, Frye and Citizens of Humanity as well as little known finds including Tinley Road, Ash and Maison Scotch. Sponsored by: "Our customers have

Retailers from Gap to Urban Outfitters are already struggling to persuade consumers to pay full price for clothes. Now it turns out many of their younger customers prefer trading T-shirts, jeans and designer dresses amongst themselves than actually buying new gear. Clothing swaps are a hot ticket for Americans aged 18 to 34. Millennials attend swap house parties from New York to San Francisco. And they gather online, frequenting such sites as Swapstyle.com, which has swelled to more than 55,000 members since its 2002 founding.

CEM and other innovative business intelligence tools significantly contribute to what's now known as a brand’s “social influence.” This means that brands are no longer talking ‘at’ individual recipients, but instead disseminating information through interactive social media platforms.

Several large U.S. retailers, including Target Corp, Macy's Inc and Gap Inc, missed sales estimates for April, as cooler weather chilled some of the enthusiasm consumers showed earlier this year.

The world of retail has certainly changed over the past hundred years. What started as small local shops that knew their customers by name and hand-picked products for them has morphed into national chains that see hundreds of shoppers an hour. Due to scale and shrinking margins, personalized service had largely faded from the retail experience.

In today's extremely competitive retail industry, marketing programs are most effective when retailers take advantage of all available customer data and use it to better segment their customers and connect with them. The advent of Big Data is complicating the marketing process and putting new pressures on retail organizations, but can also open the door to customer insights and opportunity.

Consumers are expected to shop and buy more in the week leading up to Mother's Day than they did last year, according to a new ShopperTrak survey. As Mother's Day sales and traffic historically are a bright spot in the retail calendar, national retail sales this year are projected to rise 6 percent in the week leading up to Mother's Day and foot traffic will increase 3.7 percent compared with the same period last year, ShopperTrak said. The fact that Mother's Day falls one week later on the calendar than last year may positively affect sales, ShopperTrak noted.

Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart and Kohl’s are all celebrating a milestone 50th anniversary this year. It’s hard to believe that all four were founded in the same year, but combined these stores changed the way America shops. Happy birthday to modern retail!