Seasonal

In the lead-up to this year’s holiday season, retailers across the country are already making important preparations in the hopes of increasing sales, improving customer service, and preventing data breaches. This last concern carries with it a heavy price tag; according to a survey from the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of holiday season cyber attacks is $8,000 per minute or nearly half-a-million dollars per hour.   

Hanjin Shipping Co., the world’s seventh-largest container shipper, is working to ease the potential cargo chaos caused by its bankruptcy filing last week.    The filing rose concerns among some of the nation’s biggest retailers that some merchandise may not arrive in time for the crucial holiday season, blooomberg.com reported.  

The offices of Chain Store Age will be closed for the Labor Day holiday weekend. We will resume publishing on Sept. 6. The CSA team wishes you and your family a happy and safe holiday.    

In a deal that comes right before the all-important holiday selling season, Toys “R” Us has entered into an exclusive partnership with one of the toy industry’s premier doll brands.     Mattel’s American Girl division announced a multi-year partnership with Toys “R” Us that will make the toy giant the first — and only — U.S.-based retailer to feature American Girl in-store shops.   

Don’t miss this Chain Store Age webinar on retailers’ most important selling season: the holidays.    Entitled “Holiday Uptime: Preparing your network for the holiday rush,” the presentation will offer tips for developing a network outage plan and offer advice on how to issue-proof a network. It will also reveal common network traps overlooked by retailers.   

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th is opening three stores on Sept. 1, two north of the border.   The retailer is set to open its first-ever locations in Canada’s Alberta province, a 31,900-sq.-ft. store at South Edmonton Common, Edmonton, and a 30,000-sq.-ft. store at CrossIron Mills, Rocky View.   In addition, the off-pricer is opening a 23,000-sq.-ft. store at El Paseo Square, Palm Desert, California, also on Sept. 1.    

On Thursday, Aug. 25, Sears Holdings Corp., on the heels of another dismal quarter, announced it had accepted a capital infusion in the way of a $300 million loan by CEO Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund.

Here are some insights from IBM* regarding last year’s holiday season that retailers would do well to keep in mind as they finalize plans for holiday 2016:

1/ Make mobile a key part of your integrated customer engagement strategy. Mobile traffic and sales continue to rise year after year. Create a mobile-friendly customer journey and content for the mobile experience, using tools to enrich the channel.

2/ Optimize your website for all screens.

Get ready for a very competitive holiday season.

Update on retail’s most important time of the year

It’s no secret that online shopping and changing consumer preferences continue to impact physical retail traffic. Despite the shifting landscape, retail sales remain largely intact and, more importantly, are expected to increase year-over-year this holiday season.

November and December are prime time for physical retailers.