American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

Aerie's bold decision to ditch Photoshop and other retouching tools in its lingerie ads may be paying off in more than just good karma and public approval. According to Business Insider, the branch of American Eagle specializing in intimates and sleepwear saw a 9 percent increase in sales in the last quarter. The company announced earlier this year it would leave everything from beauty marks to tattoos in its ad campaigns.

If you’re a skeptic like me, all of the talk of beacons in retail stores sounds a little too pie-in-the-sky. Beacons, as you probably know by now, are devices that communicate with shoppers’ smartphones in the hopes of improving their in-store shopping experiences. When placed in-store, beacons use Bluetooth technology to detect nearby smartphones and send them ads, coupons or supplementary product information.

the e-tailing group's fifth annual Mobile Mystery Shopping Index sought to identify the retailers that are excelling at giving consumers the best mobile shopping experience. In the second quarter of this year, the e-tailing group benchmarked the mobile consumer experience from information gathering through purchasing and customer support. Here's a sampling of the results:

Roughly 1,300 American Eagle Outfitters employees are participating this year in the retailer's second annual AEO Better World Community Day. The operator of more than 1,000 stores throughout the U.S. and several international markets developed the community involvement initiative last year as a means to unite employees for a common cause to make a difference at the local level. The company designated Tuesday, June 10 as Better World Day.

The teen retail sector is one of the most talked about categories among retail and fashion execs. Not a surprise when teens (often funded by their parents) spend an estimated $200 billion to $300 billion annually, with 40 percent of that going for fashion. Teens make up a large component of the 80 million-strong millennial demographic, which is expected to outspend baby boomers within the next five years. Ironically, this rich vein of consumer buying power is one of the toughest markets to crack successfully.  

With approximately 1.5 billion smartphones currently in use today, it's safe to say mobile is radically changing consumer retail behavior. To maximize in-store sales opportunities and minimize hurdles to purchase, retailers must change their approach to reach a new generation of consumers steeped in a mobile lifestyle. But how should retailers best interact with their customers in this new age of mobile? A new innovation from Apple could be one answer: iBeacon. 

This past January, as I've done for the past five years or so, I trekked into New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center for the National Retail Federation's (NRF) Big Show. I was met, as I was in past years as well, by retailers from around the world. I spent time at this year's conference attending presentations and press conferences; meeting and interviewing retail industry execs in the press room; and walking the vast exhibit hall floors trying to find the "next big things" in retail technology. Here are a few of my takeaways

American Eagle Outfitters and app developer Shopkick have announced plans to launch shopBeacon in 100 top-performing American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie stores across the country. According to the company, Shopkick's shopBeacon is the first Apple iBeacon-based presence signal for retailers. "AEO has always been an early adopter of cutting-edge technology, which is why we're partnering with Shopkick once again in order to provide our customers with the best mobile shopping experience available today," said Joe Megibow, senior vice president of omnichannel e-commerce at American Eagle Outfitters. 

In the race to omnichannel excellence, American Apparel & Footwear Association and MarkMonitor took some time to speak with experts in the apparel and footwear industry to get an inside view what exactly omnichannel means for them and how it's helping their companies grow into the future. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Joe Megibow, senior vice president/general manager of omnichannel e-commerce at American Eagle Outfitters.

Thanks to a variety of improvements, including streamlining the checkout process, Toys“R”Us was found to be the retailer that delivers the best mobile site user experience, according to a new report from the e-tailing group.