Amazon Go Stores Coming to Chicago, San Francisco
May 15, 2018 at 2:57 pm

Amazon.com's cashier-free grocery store of the future is coming to San Francisco and Chicago. The company is expanding its experimental Amazon Go store to the two cities, but didn't say when they would open. It has posted job listings for store managers in the cities on its site, which were first noticed by the Seattle…

Target Testing New Product Distribution Strategy
May 14, 2018 at 12:26 pm

Target is testing a new product distribution strategy aimed at cutting down its replenishment cycle from days to hours while reducing overall inventory at stores, especially at small-format ones. Preston Mosier, Target's senior vice president of global supply chain and logistics field operations, made the announcement last week during a keynote presentation at the Retail Supply…

Analyzing Mother's Day Retail Spending
May 11, 2018 at 1:40 pm

In this week's episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Caitlin Sullivan and Joe Keenan discuss Mother's Day retail spending, including online vs. in-store shopping, and the product categories primed to see big sales.

Survey: Malls to Flourish as Centers Tap Into Experience-Led Shopping
May 11, 2018 at 11:53 am

More than half of the U.S. population visited a shopping mall in the past three months. In the future, Americans adults are confident that physical stores will continue to capture the majority of their retail purchases. Shoppers’ priorities are changing, and successful shopping centers are expanding their reach beyond traditional retail, offering entertainment, services and…

Walmart Agrees to Buy Stake in Flipkart for $16B
May 10, 2018 at 2:35 pm

Walmart Inc. announced yesterday that it has signed a definitive agreement to become the largest shareholder in Flipkart Group, an e-commerce company headquartered in Bengaluru, India that's a leader in electronics, large appliances, mobile, and fashion and apparel. Walmart will buy an initial stake of roughly 77 percent in the company for $16 billion, while…

Sears Partners With Amazon on Tire Purchases, Installations
May 10, 2018 at 1:44 pm

Sears Auto Centers, a division of Sears Holdings Corp., announced yesterday that it's working with Amazon.com to provide tire installation and balancing for customers who purchase any brand of tires on Amazon, including its own DieHard brand. The rollout will begin in the coming weeks for eight metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami,…

Learning From the Holiday Season, Part 1
May 9, 2018 at 11:12 am

Over the 2017 holiday season, total sales rose by 4.9 percent, the biggest increase year-over-year since 2011. Consumers shopped via a variety of channels, but the biggest winner was e-commerce: online sales were up 18.1 percent from the previous year. To understand the ways consumers shop and the experiences brands and retailers offer, Astound Commerce…

3 Things Toys"R"Us Can Learn From Today’s Retail Survivors
May 8, 2018 at 12:49 pm

They say one man’s fortune is another’s opportunity. As Toys"R"Us auctions off 30-plus properties and shutter hundreds more following its recent bankruptcy, other retailers such as Target, Aldi and Big Lots are lining up to bid massive amounts of money with the hopes of expanding their physical presences and upping foot traffic. Across the retail…

Lands’ End Unveils New Store Concept
May 7, 2018 at 2:19 pm

Lands’ End earlier this month unveiled a new 5,000-square-foot store concept in Kildeer, IIl. According to the company, it’s the first of four to six stores Lands’ End plans to open in 2018. The new store offers a “customer first” modern shopping experience, including a fitting room lounge with comfortable chairs, catalogs, a phone connected to the…

Prepping for the ‘Retail Apocalypse’? Stock Up on Brand Consistency
May 7, 2018 at 10:00 am

With big names in retail like Toys"R"Us, Kmart and Gap closing down hundreds of stores this year, it’s easy to start believing the retail industry has reached a point of no return. Bundled with the rise of mobile commerce, age-old brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to keep up as the dawn of the "retail apocalypse" is…