When it comes to gifts, regardless of the season, there’s no question that the age old saying “it’s the thought that counts” rings true. But this holiday season, it looks like gift-giving might actually be back in fashion after taking a hiatus the last few years. And from what we can see, shoppers aren’t skimping on presents [...]
While many small and mid-sized retail companies are trying to figure out how to foster brand engagement in a meaningful way via social media, retailers of all sizes know that social platforms like Twitter are playing an increasingly larger role in their interactions with shoppers. Still debating whether to tweet or not to tweet as [...]
The official kick off to Black Friday Weekend began as early as last night for retailers across the country. From department stores like Macy’s, whose Chairman, President and CEO Terry Lundgren said stores had “midnight traffic this year surpass 2011″ traffic levels, to specialty stores like Best Buy, whose shoppers sat through the cold Wednesday night and Thursday to [...]
As retailers are gearing up for the biggest shopping weekend of the year and Americans are working on their holiday shopping lists, two things are top-of-mind: rebuilding in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the looming fiscal cliff. In a recent interview on Bloombgerg TV, NRF’s Senior Vice President Ellen Davis discussed the impact of [...]
Congress is trying to fix the “fiscal cliff” by the end of the year. But NRF is telling lawmakers the real deadline is Black Friday. NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay explained in a letter to President Obama and Congress that many retailers make a quarter or more of their annual sales during the holiday [...]
When it comes to the economy, there’s no question that millions of people have had their share of the good, the bad and the ugly. Years of stubbornly high unemployment, fluctuating home values, stagnant income growth and unpredictable retail sales continue to drive the conversation. Last holiday season food and apparel prices were higher than most were [...]
After $6 billion in campaign spending and a barrage of political ads in an election that hinged largely on jobs and the economy and which will impact a wide variety of public policy issues important to the retail industry, Americans woke up this morning to a familiar government. President Obama won a clear victory over [...]
Early last week Hurricane Sandy struck communities along the East Coast, impacting the lives of people from Florida to Maine. Thousands of homes and businesses were flooded and many of them totally destroyed with millions of people left without power, heat, gasoline, food and clothing. Many people have perished and countless others are struggling to survive [...]
When it comes to looking at retail crime by the numbers, the statistics are staggering. Shrink – the loss of inventory due to employee theft, shoplifting, paperwork errors, or supplier fraud – cost retailers more than $34 billion in 2011, or more than 1.4% of their total sales, with shoplifting accounting for 35% of those [...]