Retail Stores

Shoppers appeared to be more cautious last month in spending for clothing and other items as rising gas and food prices took up a bigger chunk of their disposable income, raising some concern about a possible slowdown in sales over the summer.

Neiman Marcus' quarterly profit more than doubled on higher U.S. luxury spending and shoppers' growing willingness to pay full price for high-end dresses, shoes and handbags.

In order to help consumers find the perfect gift for dad on Father's Day, Sears has launched the ultimate "Gift Guy'd" based on a poll of its mySears community and among its Facebook followers. With Father's Day around the corner, Sears' dedication to listening to its consumers is more apparent than ever.

Sources say that artist Kanye West has taken up residence in Paris and is taking the first steps towards the imminent launch of his high-end clothing line. "While there is no fixed date in the pipeline for the first showing of Kanye's new range, it's thought that a presentation-style format is slated for September," the Telegraph reports. 

Mia Sara, a Manhattan transplant in Los Angeles, misses window shopping in New York, but has found a replacement — shopping on her iPad.

Multichannel retailer HSN has made an unprecedented move to combine casual gaming with the e-commerce experience. This new platform will allow people to play their favorite games online while simultaneously watching HSN streaming live in high definition, viewing the item currently on-air and quickly shopping the last 15 items aired — all on one screen.

Retailers are expected to show a moderate increase in May sales, as high gas prices likely tempered consumer demand for summer clothing and other discretionary items. Analysts on average are expecting a 5.3 percent increase in May sales at stores open at least a year, according to Thomson Reuters data. 

Consumer expectations are at an all-time high, continuing to mandate how shoppers want to be serviced and treated. The question is, how do consumers react when companies fall short in delivering the expected level of customer experience?

Faced with tough budgeting decisions, consumers have put Father’s Day on the back burner for years, but this year Americans seem intent on showering dad with their appreciation. According to the National Retail Federation's Consumer Intentions and Actions Father’s Day survey, conducted by BIGresearch, Americans will shell out an average of $106.49 on dad, up from $94.32 last year and the most in the survey’s eight-year history.

We know that you're all interested in how your competition is doing, and since we hadn't seen a true ranking of cross-channel retailers year-over-year after a lot of research, we decided this year to roll up our sleeves, polish up our Excel spreadsheets and do it ourselves!