Retail Industry Archive

Working folks are hard pressed today, a study demonstrates, but their habits in the recession demonstrate one reason why food retailing has held up despite the economic downturn. In a survey, 31 percent of working adults reported making less money due to the recession, and an even larger proportion, 76 percent reported cutting their food and beverage consumption, numbers that are consistent...

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Two giants in online retailing are merging with the announcement that Amazon.com is buying shoe store Zappos.com in a cash and stock deal estimated at just under $928 million. A question on the minds of many loyal Zappos customers is: How will the store change? Management of both companies are saying “not much” thus far, with Zappos keeping its name, management team and Las Vegas...

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Apple stores continued onward and upward in the latest quarter, but Microsoft took another step toward challenging its rival’s retail ascendancy. In Apple’s third quarter conference call Tuesday, Peter Oppenheimer, senior vice president and CFO said, as transcribed by SeekingAlpha: The stores recognized $1.5 billion of revenue during the quarter, compared to $1.45 billion in the year-ago...

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Just as its less polished cousins Wal-Mart and Hot Topic have done, Nordstrom is planning a series of events as part of a major Twilight promotion, this supporting sales of exclusive apparel and jewelry that will launch in connection with the next cinematic installment of the teen vampire epic. “We are going to be doing some special events when we launch the products and when the film...

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Drug chains are likely to do better than most retailers in the upcoming and lean looking back-to-school season, according to the National Retail Federation’s back to school study, which could enhance the sector’s standing as a shopping destination. NRF noted that drug stores have become more popular destinations for additional occasions recently as their merchandise mix has expanded...

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The recent moves Gap has made to improve sales and reestablish its relevance in casual fashion don’t quite add up to a turn around strategy yet, but it’s only fair to acknowledge that the company, with its new artist edition (PRODUCT) RED t-shirt collection as an example, is doing more than just bunkering down for the recession. The company is pushing the art angle in the collection’s...

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Two major retail chains are opening in the shadow of New York City icons and while Target’s new Bronx store in the lee of Yankee Stadium will enhance development of a once blighted community, J.C. Penney’s debuting emporium in Manhattan’s Herald Square hill have to fight it out with Macy’s landmark Big Apple location. Target will open as part of Gateway Center, a development on the...

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The news that CIT received some additional financing may be something of a relief, even if that relief may be temporary, but all in all, things aren’t shaping up well for retail as the year’s second half begins. Any hope that retail might gain significant strength going into the holiday season seems diminished. How a CIT bankruptcy would effect retail is uncertain, although the company...

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As noted in a post in this blog last week, a study by two business professors, Michael Norton of Harvard Business School and Leonard Lee of Columbia Business School drew a lot of media attention for its assertion that warehouse clubs lead people to spend more than they intend, however, their study’s conclusion, which leads to the assertion about overspending, seems flawed. The conclusion...

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When Best Buy realigned its work force several weeks ago, even demoting some employees from supervisory to customer service roles with commensurate pay cuts, observers couldn’t help but wonder if the company could continue to rely on their enthusiasm in the aftermath. Apparently, the company still is counting on just that, as it has developed a service via the social network Twitter that...

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