Today on Total Retail

While at Shoptalk in Las Vegas earlier this month, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Philippe Gagnon, vice president of performance marketing at Sur La Table, a nationwide specialty retailer of cookware, kitchen electrics and bakeware; and Trevor Testwuide, CEO and co-founder of Measured, a media optimization platform powered by incrementality intelligence. Gagnon discusses media measurement…

The Home Depot said yesterday it is acquiring SRS Distribution Inc. (SRS) -- a materials provider across several verticals serving professional roofers, landscapers and pool contractors -- in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion. It would be Home Depot's largest acquisition in its history. The home improvement retailer expects the acquisition to close this…

Fueled by digital innovation, shifting consumer preferences, and retail investment, digital wallet usage is surging, transforming both how consumers shop for goods and how retailers engage with customers. With more demand for tightly integrated experiences, more buyers are turning to digital wallets to optimize how they shop. To put digital wallet growth in perspective, unique…

For affluent consumers who are ultra-sensitized to luxury brands and their codes of meaning, savoir-faire is the ultimate flex. In some prominent families, purchases and self-presentation trigger complex negotiations between social obligation and self-expression. A perfect example is the age-old tradition of donning your grandmother’s heavy wedding set instead of daring to decline the matriarch’s…

At a time when the commercial real estate landscape is evolving with unprecedented speed, changes in big-box retail are an important storyline. Appreciating how and why big-box concepts have thrived in a post-pandemic environment, and understanding the logic behind decision making with regard to everything from store layouts to merchandising, is an important first step…

Canada Goose said Tuesday that it will cut about 17 percent of its corporate workforce, reports CNBC. This announcement follows a string of other retailers that have laid off employees this year as consumers continue to pull back on discretionary spending. The cuts will affect staff at Canada Goose’s corporate headquarters in Toronto, which had…

While at Shoptalk in Las Vegas last week, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Oshiya Savur, chief brand and marketing officer at Maesa, creator and manufacturer of exclusive beauty products sold through brands such as Kristin Ess, Hairitage by Mindy McKnight, Flower by Drew, among others. Savur provides an overview of the Maesa business, discusses her…

The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is full of unexpected developments that often defy our initial intuition. The interesting part of what may transpire over the coming years are the trends that are counterintuitive. Rather than me writing these by myself, I decided to co-author the top counterintuitive trends in AI with ChatGPT. Each illustrates…

Live-selling has emerged as a powerful tool within the social commerce realm, where it offers brands an opportunity to boost sales while establishing authentic connections with their audience. Last year, the livestream e-commerce market reached $31.7 billion, nearly triple its size in 2021. That market is expected to more than double by 2026 to $67.8 billion,…

Every month brings new evidence of how dramatically consumers’ growing preferences for sustainability are reshaping their shopping habits. A new study by NIQ found that 69 percent of global consumers say that sustainability and ESG concerns have become increasingly important to them over the last two years. Another study of U.S. consumers found that 66…