U.S. retailers from discounter Target Corp. to teen apparel chain Zumiez reported October same-store sales above Wall Street expectations, helped by unique merchandise and cheap prices.
Target
"Women age 40 to 55 have pretty much held their jobs," Chicago retail analyst James Dion says. "In effect, the Nordstroms, the Saks, the Bloomies have to survive on that 40-plus customer because she's the one that's got the money."
We're excited to offer you Retail Online Integration's 50 best tips of 2010. Our editorial staff reviewed every word published in our print publication, e-newsletter (The ROI Report) and website over the past year. From there, we've extracted the best money-making and cost-saving pointers. Enjoy.
The yearโs most popular discount shopping event, referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving, is arriving ahead of Halloween this year, with some promotions beginning this week and others throughout November.
Target Corp., the mass merchandiser with about 1,750 stores nationwide, for months has been shortchanging its customers who use certain manufacturersโ coupons by crediting them for a fraction of their face value.
Increased online sales, more temporary stores and guarded optimism about the season are leading some retailers to expand their workforces more than usual for the holidays.
Target has reconfigured its smaller stores to fit its P-fresh format, introduced earlier in the year. The new stores will feature 90 percent of the categories found at a SuperTarget, but with much less of a selection.
Two key trends have dominated the retail sector this year: the robust growth of online shopping and the shift to cash payments from credit.
The two may seem in opposition as online shoppers often use credit to pay for their purchases, but more often online retailers are trying to woo the cash-only customer by providing alternative payment methods.
This Halloween is the third in a row for which marketers and retailers are playing up discounts, deals and bargains rather than goblins, ghosts and vampires.
The NFL is going from the gridiron to the runway with fashion advice to help female fans wear their team colors everywhere from tailgates to posh nightclubs. The league has thousands of new products including jeans with logos on the back pockets, flip-flops and yoga mats for women this year. It's pairing up with shops such as Victoria's Secret and Destination Maternity to sell the new products this fall in 3,000 new stores.