Apparel

Unusual twosome mix it up for e-commerce
Digital media company Mashable and Visa are doing a little mashing of their own to launch a new online retail entity.
Retailers with the best return policies—and the worst
When it comes to return policies, Nordstrom and Forever 21 couldn’t be further apart.

At least that’s according to an annual survey of return policies by GOBankingRates.com. The study rated Nordstrom as offering the best return policies of 2015, with Forever 21 offering the worst.

“Return policies should be a big consideration for holiday shoppers — two-thirds of people return at least one holiday gift,” said Elyssa Kirkham, lead reporter on the GOBankingRates study.

Retail forecast 2016

How will retailers fare in 2016? Very well, according to experienced market watchers.

“We expect core retail sales to grow 5.3% in 2016,” says Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody’s Analytics, a research firm based in West Chester, Pa. (Core retail sales exclude volatile revenues from auto sales and gas stations.)

That is notably faster than the 4.2% rate anticipated when 2015 sales are finally tallied. The 2015 experience was, again, slightly better than that the 3.9% growth of 2014.
NRF: Holiday weekend brings big in-store and online shoppers; online has edge

Huge numbers of shoppers feasted on deals over Thanksgiving weekend, but how and when Americans did so has forever changed, as online activity exceeded store visits.
Retailers with the best--and worst--return policies

When it comes to return policies, Nordstrom and Forever 21 couldn’t be further apart.
Retailers fall short on omnichannel returns

While most large retailers now offer omnichannel return capabilities, the experience may leave something to be desired.

According to The Omni-Returns Experience Report, a new study of 25 major retailers including Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Apple, Gap, Sears, J.C.Penney and Macy's from StellaService, more than 75% of evaluated retailers offer buy online, return in store (BORIS).
Warm weather didn’t hurt this retailer’s sales

The parent company of Zales and Jared is looking forward to a happy holiday after producing third quarter results that met the company’s growth targets.
Somebody is getting new shoes this Christmas

In addition to the requisite comment about expecting the holidays to be highly promotional, Famous Footwear also expects the momentum it saw during back-to-school season to carry over to the fourth quarter.

Famous Footwear’s third quarter same store sales increased 4.4% and total sales increased 4.8% to $456 million, excluding the performance of the divested Shoes.com business, to represent 63% of parent company Caleres total sales of $728.6 million. Caleres is the company formerly known as Brown Shoe Company that changed its name earlier this year.
Guess? hit by weak sales, strong dollar

The CEO of Guess?
Wolverine World Wide making key growth moves

More Stride Rite shoe stores are closing as parent company Wolverine World Wide increases its focus on direct sales and improving the performance of lifestyle brands.
Mid-America Real Estate arranges three new leases

Mid-America Real Estate announced three new retail leases recently signed.

New Bohemi signed a lease for 4,209 sq. ft. at Eagan Towne Centre located in Eagan, Minnesota off of Interstate 35. The 153,781 sq. ft. center is anchored by Cub Foods, Big Lots and Dollar Tree.

Title Boxing Club signed a lease for 3,495 sq. ft. at 55th and Lyndale located in Minneapolis. The 4,736 sq. ft. center is shadow-anchored by Walgreens, Midas, Enterprise and Kowalski’s.
Strong dollar crushes Tiffany

Millions of people worldwide will be surprised and delighted to receive a little blue box this holiday season, but a strong U.S.