The back-to-school (BTS) shopping season is well underway, with total retail sales projected to reach a whopping $27.8 billion. However, despite claims that Amazon.com is destroying retail, more than half of U.S. consumers are planning to shop for supplies in-store instead of online this year. So, what does this mean for brick-and-mortar retailers? The BTS…
For anybody who has shopped in a brick-and-mortar store, the influence of in-store teams on the shopping experience is no secret. A great experience with a store associate can quickly catapult the brand to the top of a shopper’s favorites list, while a poor interaction or, even worse, the inability to find someone to help,…
The National Retail Federation (NRF) today announced that retail sales — excluding automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants — were up 0.9 percent in July, up 5.6 percent year-over-year, and the industry trade association remains cautiously optimistic about consumer spending as a whole for the rest of the year. The NRF said its numbers are based on data…
Avenue, a women's retailer specializing in plus-size apparel, is reportedly closing all of its stores across the U.S. in the coming weeks, according to Footwear News. Employees were notified during a conference call last Friday, and store associates were instructed not to accept returns or sell gift cards. Avenue's owner Versa Capital Management has not…
Every year, the beginning of August marks the start of back-to-school (BTS) shopping for students and their parents. With an average of $519 expected to be spent per child, according to Deloitte, the BTS season is second only to the Q4 holiday shopping season. BTS provides an enormous opportunity for even the smallest businesses to…
Foot Locker is teaming with Nike as it rolls out bigger, more interactive stores. These so-called Power stores are four times as big as a typical Foot Locker store in malls. The newest will open Saturday in New York — in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The retailer plans to open upwards of 50 Power stores over…
Back-to-school (BTS) is a critically important selling period — and an opportunity to connect with shoppers before the holiday season. In a recently completed shopper survey, BRG Retail found consumers consistent in their expectations for BTS shopping, presenting a golden opportunity for retailers to strengthen their connection to customers. In the survey, we asked how…
Walgreens announced plans to close 200 stores in the U.S. on Tuesday, reports CNBC. This comes after parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance announced plans to review its U.S footprint and close 200 U.K. stores earlier this year. The pharmacy operates roughly 10,000 locations nationwide, and closures will affect less than 3 percent of its current…
To many, it may feel as though summer still has a ways to go. But like it or not, retailers must face the fact that Amazon.com's first-ever 48-hour Prime Day ushered in the unofficial start of the 2019 back-to-school (BTS) shopping season, along with some heated competition for consumer spend. BTS is the second-largest shopping…
Barneys New York, an icon of New York retail, filed for bankruptcy early Tuesday morning, with a plan to significantly reduce its physical footprint, as it looks for a buyer to stave off liquidation. The retailer said it will focus on running only five of its more than 10 namesake stores: on New York’s Madison…
