Target

I believe that merchants are very important to a retail organization. They shape the future of their company with innovative and creative ideas. They're always on the lookout for new fashion trends. They visit stores and designers to learn and see the future. Fashion leadership starts at the top and then permeates the whole store organization. Whether it's a color, new look or new allocation of space, it's the merchant who will decide. Some of retail's top merchants I admire include Mike Gould, Roger Farah, Mickey Drexler and Karen Katz.

In what can't be qualified as surprising news, Sears Holdings Corp announced this morning that it will close more than 100 stores across the country and lay off upwards of 5,500 employees. At least 46 Kmart stores, 30 Sears department stores and 31 Sears Auto Centers are scheduled to close before the end of January. This is just the latest in a series of moves that Sears has made as it fights to keep its head above water.

Two months into the job, Target's new chief executive has already given the go-ahead to one of the retailer's key holiday strategies: free shipping. Starting Wednesday, Target will offer free shipping on any online purchase — no matter the size — through Dec. 20. In doing so, Target is taking an aggressive stance early on in the holiday season. Typically, retailers require a minimum purchase amount before shipping becomes free. "We've spent time as a team to see how we can differentiate ourselves," Brian Cornell, who began as CEO in August, said in an interview Tuesday. 

Target has announced the release of a slew of enhancements to its mobile shopping offerings that promise to take location-based shopping to new heights when they go live later this month. Target has partnered with the startup Curbside to offer curbside pickup at 10 San Francisco Bay area stores. Guests simply place an order for store pickup through the Curbside app and collect their purchase in person at a convenient Curbside-branded trailer or tent near

It's no mystery why affiliate marketing has historically had a reputation as a channel full of fraud and off-brand promotion. However, shady affiliate practices are now taking a backseat as retailers with properly managed affiliate programs are starting to shift to practices that focus on and drive incremental revenue and brand relevance.

I'm at the Shop.org Annual Summit in Seattle and having a great time catching up with old friends and colleagues, meeting new contacts, and learning about new digital marketing strategies and technologies. Also, as usual, as I walk through the exhibit hall I'm being greeted by smiling vendors, eager to share with me information about their latest and greatest shiny new objects. For the most part, I actually enjoy talking with vendors and learning about their wares. But I have noticed many folks — retailers, probably — with their badges turned the other way or tucked into their jackets, and I know why: they don’t want to be singled out and aggressively sold to by vendors.

Segmentation drives results within your customer base and is centralized on driving satisfaction through better user experiences. It helps customers discover products and entices them to take action, and can have a dramatic impact to your business and bottom line. Segmentation is an effective way to speak differently to varied segments in a concentrated effort to construct a more personalized experience, hence increasing the conversion rate.

We all lead such busy lives that anytime we can do something to save time we should consider doing so. This is why I'm writing today's column — to save you from having to read the stories about the latest hackings of retail stores that will continue to be repeated in the news in the months ahead. Since the hacking of Target that began around Thanksgiving 2013, we have seen the same story played out in store after store, including

Despite its size, Home Depot's data breach has been met with a big, fat yawn in many circles. Why? In September, Home Depot said that its payment systems had been breached, which may have impacted roughly 56 million cards, making it significantly larger than the Target breach, which impacted about 40 million cards. Already, card-issuing banks J.P. Morgan Chase and Capital One have announced that they will send out new credit cards to those potentially impacted by the breach. While the Home Depot story is certainly garnering attention, consumers seem to be less angry about it than the Target breach. 

They compete tooth and nail to draw customers to their Midtown flagship stores, but Macy's and J.C. Penney are teaming up to block the thievery of organized crooks. The rivals have joined more than 100 companies and the NYPD to form an alliance that will be known as the Metropolitan Organized Retail Crime Alliance. Its objective is to improve retail stores’ security efforts by sharing intelligence on crews of bandits, scams and ripoffs. Target, Home Depot and Rite Aid have also signed up for the crime-busting venture. Computer giant Apple is poised to jump onboard soon, sources said.