Nordstrom

How the online shopping experience has changed since the birth of e-commerce was the focus of a lively session at the National Retail Federation's BIG Show in New York City this week.

For online retailers, a positive service experience relates to a consumer’s ability to quickly find a suitable product; the accurate portrayal of goods in terms of features, colors and sizes; a speedy website; and how quickly questions about a product are answered. Let’s look at how L.L.Bean, Amazon.com and Nordstrom have optimized their customers’ web-based service experiences.

The outlook for same-store sales continues the improvement trend begun in September, according to the December ForecastIQ. But with consumer confidence more than two points lower in December 2010 than December 2009, it's not certain if the continuing improvement trend will bring sustainable recovery.

Norstrom Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped a more-than-expected 43 percent on sales and margin gains. However, the company's expanding clearance division saw comparable sales drop.

Same-store retail sales for October were up 1.7 percent, a smaller increase compared to the gains in September with 2.8 percent and 2.3 percent in October 2009, according to Kantar Retail's monthly report of 31 U.S. retailers.

In a new study, the first and largest of its kind, NYU Stern Professor of Marketing Scott Galloway and a team of experts from L2, a think tank for digital innovation, evaluated and ranked 82 prestige specialty retail brands’ Digital IQ. The study measures site and e-commerce strength, digital marketing and mobile capabilities, social media savvy and search engine marketing and optimization.

TJX delivered a three percent comparable store sales increase and a 17 percent increase in net income in the second quarter. Ross Stores comps gained four percent in the second quarter in addition to a strong increase in earnings. Neither TJX nor Ross is getting their comp gains by pushing unprofitable discounts. Evidence that both stores have proven particularly good at translating customer knowledge into additional sales comes from their track record with new product categories.

Among uneven retail numbers this year exists a bright spot that has been growing for years, and is leading companies to overhaul their traditional business models: the online retail market.

Chief executives of high-end department stores are betting on off-price outlets to generate growth, even as they curb discounts at their main stores. But tony retailers can't rely solely on full-price shoppers for growth now because luxury spending remains muted. So more executives are expanding their outlets, which let them sell to a wider range of customers without having to offer big discounts at regular stores.

The second half of the year is off to a slow start for retailers, who reported Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year were weaker than expected in July, increasing 2.9 percent from July of last year, according to a tally by Thomson Reuters.