Target

If the pundits are to be believed, big data is the retailer's nirvana, telling you the exact profile that will buy a specific product at a specific time of day through a specific channel at a specific price. There is, to be sure, more than a grain of truth in that, but the path from data collection to customer fulfillment is fraught with potential pitfalls. As anyone who has had experience with Google's AdWords’ algorithms can attest, one wrong assumption can easily send you wide enough of the target to lose tens of thousands of dollars in sales, which would be a huge setback for most retailers.

Target laid off 150 corporate workers at its Minneapolis-area headquarters on Wednesday, about 1 percent of its local workforce, as executives tackled inefficiencies at a time of growing uncertainty about shoppers’ behavior. Many retailers, including Target, have lowered their financial expectations for the rest of the year, citing a tougher-than-expected spending environment. Target said last month that it would employ fewer seasonal workers over the holidays than it did last year, about 70,000 now compared with 88,000 during the 2012 holiday season.

Mike Ullman has returned to J.C. Penney in hopes to quickly reverse the company's momentum. Investor bravado and boardroom drama feed news cycles, but do nothing for business results. The fastest and most effective path to turning around results is through restoring trust with the three key groups that can help him immediately: customers, employees and external stakeholders.

Econsultancy has rounded up 10 great examples of mobile use in retail from around the world. The list includes the likes of Neiman Marcus, Target, Moosejaw Mountaineering and more. "Mobile is growing and forward-thinking retailers are looking at ways to use mobile to increase sales, bring customers into stores and to enhance the experience when…

Luxury brands by their nature must approach digital marketing in a far different manner than brands that appeal to the masses. This includes everything from targeting to customer service. Luxury brands must be able to take the services their customers expect in-store and provide them in the digital space.

Target launched a free service on Wednesday that lets shoppers set up recurring deliveries of bulky baby goods, a move that mimics Amazon.com and is aimed at attracting more moms. Target has a battle ahead since it's not the first to offer such delivery, and for now is only selling 150 items such as diapers, baby wipes and formula. "There are certainly other options in the marketplace and it's one that they expect Target to have," Casey Carl, Target's president of multichannel, said in an interview.

Target's Senior Vice President of E-Commerce and Mobile Jason Goldberg shares why the brand welcomes and embraces showrooming. "As we start building a true multichannel existence - where Target is a part of our guest's life whether it's on her mobile phone, on her desktop, in the store or on her mobile phone while in…

In the final part of this two-part series on the “20-Plus Things to Watch in Retail” section of JWT’s Retail Rebooted report, I discuss

Less than a year after debuting Facebook Gifts, the social network has announced it will shut down its physical gift service this week. Fast Company reports the service will now offer only digital gifts to users. "The social network initially introduced Facebook Gifts as a way for users to send their friends both physical and…

Target added another brick to its virtual store. The big-box retailer on Tuesday agreed to buy the online beauty products portal DermStore.com for an undisclosed amount. It's the second acquisition Target's made this year to build up its e-commerce presence. In March, Target said it was buying Chefs Catalog, as well as some Cooking.com assets, to bolster its housewares business. And like those cooking purchases, DermStore won't move the needle regarding Target's 2013 results. Frankly, it isn't clear when they might will considering