Retail Stores

Clay Johnson, executive vice president and CIO, Walmart, isn't afraid to fail. This was a key revelation gleaned from a discussion he had with Debbie Hauss, editor-in-chief, Retail TouchPoints, at the Retail Innovation Conference in New York City this week. “I’m one of those people who uses a fail fast model,” Johnson said. “The pace…

The soaring popularity of online-based retail among consumers cannot be denied, but physical retail will continue to represent the majority of sales. In fact, recent research found that physical retail will still account for 80 percent of sales globally by 2025 — an indicator that consumers still see huge value in visiting brick-and-mortar stores. However,…

As retail continues to evolve, it has become clear the old ways of thinking that pit digital vs. physical no longer apply. Today’s consumers go from browsing an item on their mobile phones, to reserving it online and then picking it up in-store, and they expect the same seamless, frictionless experience at each point in…

GNC said Thursday it plans to shutter about 200 stores across the U.S. and Canada in 2018. The vitamin shop owner has more than 8,000 locations globally, about 3,300 of which are corporately held and within the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. It also operates shops within Rite Aid stores, and has a little more…

Mother’s Day spending is expected to total a near-record $23.1 billion this year, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Eighty-six percent of Americans plan to celebrate Mother’s Day, and they will spend an average of $180 per person. “This year’s Mother’s Day forecast is one…

The benefits of online shopping are obvious: its speed, ease and convenience drove Q2 2017 e-commerce sales to $111.5 billion, a 16.2 percent increase year-over-year. Still, if given a choice, 64 percent of online shoppers prefer buying from physical outlets — a number that, surprisingly, increases when talking about younger shoppers. Millennials and even Gen…

Discount apparel brand Old Navy will add 60 more stores across the U.S. this year, pushing its total to more than 1,000 locations. Gap Inc., which owns Old Navy as well as the flagship Gap banner, Banana Republic and Athleta, currently operates more than 3,500 stores globally. Meanwhile, Gap Inc. is trimming back its fleet…

Toys“R”Us Inc.’s lawyers and advisers have shot down an 11th-hour offer from a billionaire toy maker that would have kept some of its U.S. stores open, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reports that Isaac Larian, founder of Bratz dolls maker MGA Entertainment, Inc., came forward last week with a…

The only two bids at the start of a bankruptcy auction for department store chain Bon-Ton Stores Inc. were from liquidators, signaling the end for the company, according to reports Tuesday morning. Reuters said Bon-Ton will go out of business without a bid from a going-concern bidder. The New York research firm Reorg Research, also…

U.S. retail sales rebounded in March after three straight monthly declines as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting consumer spending was heading into the second quarter with momentum. The Commerce Department said on Monday retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month after an unrevised 0.1 percent dip in February. January data…