Macy's

NOW that Halloween is done, Madison Avenue is embarking on the mad dash to Dec. 25. The sluggish economy is raising the stakes for the Christmas shopping season. Some retailers and marketers, worried that uncertainty among shoppers might increase as the weeks go by, hope to pull demand forward by moving up the start of their pitches.

The global economy has sped up the fashion cycle, transporting trends from Europe and around the world to the masses at a breakneck pace.

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), the Pittsburgh-based multichannel retailer of on-trend apparel and accessories, found a unique way to bring shoppers into its stores earlier this year.

Macy’s has taken steps to improve customers’ shopping experience in-store and on the go via enhanced mobile offerings.

Macy’s has launched an m-commerce website for its Macy’s brand department store chain and plans to roll out a similar Bloomingdale’s mobile shop next week.

Same-store sales, excluding Walmart, saw a 3.2 percent gain in June, up from May's 2.7 percent increase, according to Retail Forward's monthly report for 31 retailers. Last month's increase also topped June 2009's 4.7 percent decline, evaluated without Walmart. "The June results are positive, but the recovery in retail sales will be challenged in the coming months as long as doubts grow among shoppers," says Frank Badillo, senior economist at Retail Forward. "And it's clear that the news from the Gulf to Europe is starting to affect the outlook among shoppers." Among the biggest gains: Nordstrom (14.1 percent), Zumiez (10.9

As Americans' love affair with shopping cools, retailers are venturing overseas in search of growth. Bloomingdale's and Crate & Barrel each opened their first store outside the U.S. in Dubai this year. Abercrombie & Fitch just opened its first store in London. Sears has begun shipping tools and clothing to 90 countries. Macy's is looking at going into China. And Target, the discount chain that for a decade has resisted Wall Street pressure to expand internationally, revealed this spring that it wants to open stores outside the U.S. and is looking at Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

Welcome to Online Retailing 2.0. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers once outsourced their online sales to specialty "fulfillment" companies. Today they are running their own online operations — and increasingly challenging their executive brainpower to find more sophisticated ways to compete with online-only retailers such as Amazon.com.

Macy's, the iconic retail brand, has launched 
visitmacysusa.com, a website designed to target domestic and international travelers — and ultimately bring them into Macy's stores as their shopping destinations.