Today on Total Retail

2024 looks to be another year of growth for retail, with more than a dozen retail chains already announcing plans for expansion this year. I always love to see headlines about retailers opening new stores. It shows that retail businesses are healthy enough to invest in expanding their physical store footprints. And as a long…

Joann, the 81-year-old fabric and craft retailer, has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles with customers cutting back on discretionary spending. In a statement released on Monday, the Ohio-based company said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has secured $132 million in funding with most of its financial stakeholders that helps reduce its…

In episode 444 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Michael Browning, co-founder and CEO of Unleashed Brands, a portfolio of innovative brands that help kids learn, play and grow, including Urban Air, Snapology, and The Little Gym. Listen in as Browning provides an overview of Unleashed Brands (0:55), discusses why he launched the…

While retailers typically put a significant emphasis on post-holiday sales, they didn't resonate with shoppers after the 2023 holiday season. During the week after Christmas, year-over-year sales were down across the board, with only computer software sales seeing an increase from 2022. Department stores, cosmetics stores and clothing stores saw some of the largest declines,…

In today’s dynamic world of retail, the spotlight remains on artificial intelligence (AI) — and for good reason. AI is undoubtedly transformative, reshaping the future of retail. In addition to AI, other technologies are also making significant strides. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), replacing barcodes, revolutionizes supply chain and inventory management. Video analytics leverages computer vision to…

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is spurring organizations across different sectors to fundamentally reimagine their approach to digital transformation. Nowhere is its disruptive potential more evident than in retail, where Gen AI’s ever-increasing capabilities are powering a new age of customer-centric innovation. Retailers are exploring use cases across a wide range of functions, from new…

Kevin Plank, the founder of Under Armour, is returning to the helm of the Baltimore-based athletic wear maker, the company announced in a Wednesday afternoon press release. Plank is set to be president and CEO starting April 1. He will succeed Stephanie Linnartz, who had been in the position for little more than a year.…

Consumers love paying with installment plans. A recent report confirms that 60 percent of shoppers over the past year chose to pay for their purchases with interest-free installments, and most of those shoppers (45 percent) chose to do so with their own general-purpose credit cards. Even though the consumer is clearly voting with their wallets…

Large retailers are under constant pressure to keep up with new and ever-changing customer demands. At the same time, they’re also grappling with sometimes volatile global supply chains and massive amounts of data — everything from sales and inventory data to pricing and customer insights. It’s a significant undertaking. As more organizations continue their digital…

Consumers want convenience, personalization and value — it’s what pushed the U.S. retail market to a record $5.13 trillion in 2023. As inflation subsides, what shoppers want and how they spend will keep playing a big role in how the market evolves. Retailers need to keep pace with a more connected, savvy and discerning customer…