Retail Stores

With brick-and-mortar retailers struggling from online competition, every point of differentiation helps. Data makes that possible.

Toys“R”Us, one of the world’s largest toy store chains, has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest casualty of the pressures facing brick-and-mortar retailers. The company made the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing late Monday night in federal court in Richmond, Va., acknowledging that it needed to revamp its long-term debt totaling more than $5 billion. Toys"R"Us said…

Back-to-school shopping is one of the retail industry’s busiest seasons of the year. Now that summer is officially wrapping up, students and their parents spent the last few weeks scooping up everything necessary to make it through another school year. At ChargeItSpot, we recently released our “2017 Back-to-School Sales Report,” which examined the shopping behavior…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, get the latest retail news, including the launch of Nordstrom Local, a merchandise-less store; Amazon.com's 1-Click patent expiring; and the e-commerce giant's search for a new North American headquarters.

It’s no secret that the retail landscape has changed recently. Thanks to the influence of Amazon.com and other retail disrupters, customer expectations today are at an all-time high, and this puts economic pressure on legacy retailers, which generally have very different business models and as such can’t always meet these expectations. So, what are legacy…

Neiman Marcus is taking a step back from its discounting strategy and closing 10 of its 38 Last Call outlet stores. The upscale department store chain wants its Last Call stores to stand out by offering consumers more merchandise from its full-line stores in proportion to the made-for-outlet merchandise that offers higher margins, but isn't…

Nordstrom announced the launch of a retail concept and neighborhood hub where customers can shop and access services in a central location — and without merchandise typically found in the retailer's stores. Nordstrom Local, which will launch in West Hollywood, Calif. on Oct. 3., will have a 3,000 sq. ft. footprint, which is much smaller than an average…

Hurricane Irma, the strongest storm in the Atlantic Ocean on record — which at the time of writing is forecast to be heading towards the coasts of Florida — is expected to cause retailers serious grief. Business weather intelligence provider Planalytics assessed Irma's potential economic impact and reported that lost retail sales could total $1.45 billion…

Retailers are facing a tough combination of several major market forces: accelerated pace of innovation including digitization, increased competition, and more empowered customers. To grow — and to beat competition — it’s more important than ever that retailers offer customers the right products, in the right place at the right time. Fortunately, retailers can focus…

Store closings have been an unfortunate theme during 2017. Retailers such as Sears, J.C. Penney, Payless, Gymboree and many more have announced store closures this year. And to add injury to insult for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, Amazon.com is moving into their space. Amazon's push into brick-and-mortar retail is one more reason B-to-C retailers are concerned…