Neiman Marcus

By Doug Lodder, [email protected]

Mobile device users have the world at their fingertips. Consumers today can use their smartphone or tablet to manage their finances, diagnose their own symptoms, and even use apps as a personal stylist while shopping.

By Ted Vaughan, [email protected]

The year 2012 was the best year for retail IPOs since 2002 — S&P Capital IQ reported seven offerings for the year — and when we released our 2013 IPO Outlook Study earlier this year, 30% of capital markets executives expected initial public offerings (IPOs) in the retail and consumer products space to continue to grow in 2013. Now that we’re well into the second half of the year, how have those expectations fared?

FREMONT, Calif. — The Men's Wearhouse has appointed retail industry veteran Allen I. Questrom to its board of directors.

Questrom’s addition brings the Men's Wearhouse board to a total of nine directors, seven of whom are independent.

Fremont, Calif. -- Allen I. Questrom, who has held CEO and other senior executive positions at several major retailers in the past 40 years, has joined the board of directors of The Men’s Wearhouse. With the addition of Questrom, currently a member of the boards of directors of Sotheby's and the Glazer family of companies, Men’s Wearhouse has nine directors, seven of whom are independent.

LOS ALTOS, Calif. — Catalog Spree, a personal digital mall that lets consumers browse and shop their favorite catalogs, has launched exclusive lookbooks for Fab, "The World's Design Store." The digital mall will publish Fab lookbooks daily, which consumers can view on iPad and iPhone.

DALLAS — Neiman Marcus is getting set to deck its flagship downtown Dallas location in gold and pink to celebrate beauty brand Mary Kay's 50th anniversary.

Known for its high fashion window displays, Neiman Marcus — which is headquartered in Dallas — has dedicated four of its windows to the brand's milestone and to its founder, Mary Kay Ash.

What’s your favorite department store? The experts at London-based design consultancy Dalziel+Pow have just come out with their top 10 global department store destinations. It’s an interesting list, with some familiar players, and some less so.

Here are the firm’s picks:

Retailers share online insights

Speakers at the recent Internet Retailer Conference & Exposition in Chicago discussed how the retail industry is using a number of digital technologies to assist performance in areas such as CRM, marketing, driving customer traffic and converting sales. Following are a few brief highlights: