Seasonal

Ottawa, Canada - The retailers who “won” during the holiday season in 2013 were those that offered meaningful discounts on a sizable number of products on Black Friday instead of discounting a small number of door crashers. According to analysis from 360pi and Retail Systems Research, poor financial performance followed those retailers who discounted during the week leading into Black Friday, and those who kept discounts in place following Cyber Monday generally fared better than those who raised prices.

Austin, Texas - Nearly all Americans (96%) are coupon users, according to the latest edition of the Shoppers Trend Report conducted in conjunction with The Omnibus Company. The number of Americans who rely mostly on mobile coupons has been steadily increasing during the past few years (15% in 2014, compared to 10% in 2013 vs. 4% in 2010).

In a few weeks, retailers across the country will set out to begin to interview, hire and train workers for very busy holiday season. There is nothing new about these hiring trends. What is new is that we can translate and apply military methods to train, integrate and improve workers effectiveness for a more successful retail season.
 

Kansas City, Kansas -- Legends Outlets Kansas City announced that Coach is extending the stay of the area’s first Coach Factory pop-up location through the holidays, until January 2015.
 
Coach Factory opened its pop-up before Memorial Day weekend and has added new inventory almost daily since opening.
 

Venice, Calif. – Vertical denim retailer Rialto Jean Project (RJP) opens a month-long pop-up shop on Sept. 5 in New York's South Street Seaport, in conjunction with the New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer presentations kicking off around Manhattan.

New York -- Costco Wholesale Corp. and L Brands Inc. were among the retailers that posted stronger-than-expected sales in August, fueled in many cases by back-to-school promotions.

Costco led the pack, reporting a 7% gain in August total same-store sales, ahead of views for a 4.9% gain. U.S. same-store sales, excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, rose 7% as well. Top-performing categories at Costco included housewares, small appliances, apparel, fresh foods and food sundries.

New York – Shoppers spent $50.17 billion online during the 2014 back-to-school shopping season, which represents a 16% gain from $43.26 billion in the year-ago period, according to eMarketer. Online commerce during the months of July and August — the main months for back-to-school shopping — accounted for approximately one-sixth of retail ecommerce sales for the year, according to eMarketer estimates, as well as 70.5% of retail ecommerce sales in third quarter 2014.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Kmart is offering a no-money-down layaway program to members of the Shop Your Way loyalty program for the holiday season, starting Sept. 4. Kmart's layaway program includes both online and in-store contracts for coveted items across dozens of merchandise categories, including apparel, home, toys and electronics.

Kmart is also running a new ad for the program both on TV and YouTube.

Shoe Carnival may have had a challenging second quarter thanks to soft store traffic, but the company is looking forward to implementing improved digital capabilities — including the launch of its first-ever mobile app — as part of its aggressive push to evolve the omnichannel shopping experience for its consumers.

Kmart is gearing up for the holiday shopping season and reminding customers, including Shop Your Way members, of its No Money Down Layaway program, which is now available.