Today on Total Retail

Consumer holiday spending during the Thanksgiving week is expected to reach new highs as consumers look to make the most of festive deals, according to Deloitte's recently released 2023 Black Friday Cyber Monday Survey. Key findings from the annual survey include: Black Friday-Cyber Monday shopping is back. Spending during the Thanksgiving week period is expected to be…

In episode 428 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Mike Clem, CEO of Sweetwater, the world's leading music technology and instrument retailer. Listen in as Clem discusses his 20-year career at Sweetwater (1:00), why the company has a strong track record of long-time employee retention (1:45), and how he is working to maintain…

A record 196.7 million consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend in 2022, and Black Friday sales are expected to reach $9.8 billion this year. For small businesses, this presents a significant opportunity to bolster sales and attract new customers to their brick-and-mortar stores. That is, if they have the necessary tools to handle a serious influx…

Amazon.com's Prime Big Deal Days are in the rearview mirror, and it’s all holiday ahead. With consumer spending expected to surpass pre-pandemic figures for the first time, retailers that deliver a great digital experience (DX) are poised to win big during the most important time of the year. In fact, 85 percent of consumers say…

October’s early holiday online shopping bump failed to materialize in a meaningful way, leaving retailers wondering whether the rest of their busiest season would live up to the already meager projections for fourth-quarter sales growth. U.S. e-commerce spending was up 4 percent in October compared to a year ago, according to data from commerce protection provider…

Starbucks workers in New York City have filed 32 more complaints alleging that the coffee giant violated the city’s labor laws. New York’s Fair Workweek law says that employers have to give their workers regular schedules from week to week, 14 days notice of their scheduled hours and extra pay for shift changes, among other…

The holiday shopping season is often referred to as retail’s Super Bowl, with the National Retail Federation estimating that November and December have accounted for 19 percent of total U.S. retail sales over the past five years. Even those with tight purse strings tend to loosen them during this time of year, with more money spent…

Joe Megibow is CEO of Bright Cellars, an online wine subscription company that uses data to pair people with wine they'll love. Megibow recently spoke at Total Retail Tech in Denver, delivering a keynote on why he opted for an "off the shelf" technology solution to quickly re-platform the business. In this video interview from the…

The holiday season beckons eager shoppers in search of the ideal year-end deals. It's a period synonymous with joyous celebrations, one that merchants eagerly await in anticipation of the revenue windfall it promises. Yet, amidst this atmosphere of prosperity, a lesser-discussed narrative unfolds: the intricate challenges posed by fraud and chargebacks. As 2023 draws to…

The intense competition in the e-commerce market, rapid changes in consumer shopping habits, and expansion of new technologies require e-commerce businesses to reshape their customer engagement strategies to win buyers and motivate them to return. Catching and keeping customers’ attention requires expertise in the latest customer experience trends and e-commerce technologies. That’s why forward-looking digital…