Seasonal

With the holidays right around the corner, retailers are already setting up for the biggest shopping season of the year. This year, retail revenue for the holidays is expected to surpass $1 trillion, compared to last year’s total of $626.1 billion.   One of the many holiday preparations brands are making to deal with this influx is bulking up in-store resources. At least 700,000 short-term retail jobs are assumed to be added across the U.S. this holiday season, helping brands fill gaps in-stores and on the back-end.  

Eyeing a strong holiday season, Pier 1 is working on a new fulfillment strategy to meet omnichannel shopper demand.   As the home decor retailer continues to focus on how to enhance its digi-tal channel, Pier 1 is turning its attention to drop-ship capabilities. By working with third-party suppliers, the chain will be able to augment its assortment, and “test new categories with much less risk using vendor-owned inventory,” Alexander Smith said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday.   

Simon Properties has announced the impending arrivals of Cartier and Hermes at its Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. This marks Hermes’ first new U.S. store in five years, according to Simon.   The 6,000-sq.-ft. Hermes shop, which will reside near Neiman Marcus in the center of the newly updated center, is scheduled to open in late 2017 or early 2018. Its focus will be on men's, women's, home, and equestrian collections.   

The Bon-Ton Stores is getting its holiday team in place.   The department store chain is eyeing 13,000 new associates to service customers across all store locations during the busy holiday season. Another 500 associates will fill positions across all of Bon-Ton Stores’ distribution centers and its e-commerce fulfillment center.  

According to eMarketer’s holiday sales preview forecast, ecommerce will surpass 10% of total U.S. holiday retail sales for the first time this year.    Total retail sales will increase 3.3% over the same period last year, to $884.50 billion, according to the report.   Holiday retail ecommerce sales will jump to $94.71 billion, representing 10.7% of total holiday retail sales.  

Americans will open their purses for holiday shopping regardless of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the election.      A survey of American voters by RetailNext found the vast majority will not let the outcome of election 2016 affect their planned spending this coming holiday season.   

A high-quality site experience makes Amazon the place where more than half (55%) of consumers go to first for products online.    That’s according to the second annual “State of Amazon” study from personalization platform company BloomReach, which found that search engines and retailers lost almost equal ground with consumers, 28% and 16% respectively, while Amazon increased its share by 11% over last year. Fifty-three percent felt Amazon had the best site experience overall.  

Mark your calendars. Free Shipping Day, the one-day online event featuring free shipping with no minimum order requirement and delivery by Christmas Eve, is scheduled this year for Friday, Dec. 16.

"While we try to schedule the event one week before Christmas Eve, the calendar doesn't always accomodate," said Luke Knowles, founder of Free Shipping Day.  "What sets Free Shipping Day apart from other shopping holidays is small business participation.”