Today on Total Retail

Thirty-six percent of Americans planned to shop for gifts this holiday season on Chinese online marketplaces such as Temu and Shein, a new survey from e-commerce marketing platform Omnisend found. The survey, which asked 1,000 Americans about their holiday shopping plans, found that 82 percent of American shoppers are doing their holiday gift buying online…

As the holiday shopping season gathers pace, retailers are working extra hard to satisfy increased customer demand. There’s a strong emphasis on in-store teams, but contact center agents are also critical, serving as the touchpoint between retail brands and millions of customers grappling with online order issues, delivery delays and other complex questions. Artificial intelligence…

The holiday season has always been an important time for brands to attract shoppers and drive sales. Black Friday is the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. This time of the year always presents a challenge for advertisers and retailers due to the compressed time frame. With fewer days between shopping milestones, such as Black…

More than 4,500 new stores have opened this year, and while this growth is a testament to retail's resilience, it brings a series of complexities for store leaders to manage. Whether you're overseeing one store or a network of thousands, the role of a store leader has evolved significantly. The average store manager receives 27,000-plus…

The holiday season is here, which means consumers are ready to spend. Every dollar spent inevitably leads to more customer service inquiries, whether travel, clothes or gifts. Given that the human attention span has dropped a whopping 25 percent in the past few years, brands must deliver personalized service faster than ever. But is it…

For e-commerce retailers, the holiday season is more than just a busy period — it’s a high-stakes test of their tax compliance systems. With sales spiking across channels and jurisdictions, a minor compliance slipup can lead to costly penalties or damage to customer trust. Retailers need robust strategies to manage the holiday rush without impacting…

November retail sales grew at a faster pace than Wall Street analysts had expected, reflecting continued resilience in the American consumer and indicating that the holiday shopping season in the U.S. is off to a strong start, reports Yahoo Finance. Retail sales rose 0.7 percent in November. Economists had expected a 0.6 percent rise in…

While the festive holiday shopping season is in full swing, this year retailers and consumer goods companies face a pressing challenge: a shorter period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. With five fewer shopping days and economic pressures making consumers more price-sensitive, companies need to act fast if they want to engage shoppers. Amid these challenges lies…

As the holiday season continues, brands have a unique opportunity to craft campaigns that resonate deeply and drive sales. However, this requires advertisers to prioritize inclusivity. Kantar reported that 75 percent of consumers say a brand’s inclusivity influences their purchase decisions. Inclusive advertising isn’t just a moral imperative — it’s a necessity. As brands look…

According to research by PwC, overall spending will surge this holiday season to an average of $1,638 per shopper, a 7 percent increase from 2023 and a 15 percent increase from 2022. While this is good news for a recovering economy, 34 percent of Americans went into debt over Christmas in 2023, with 67 percent…