Department Store

The CEO of Guess?

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).

The holidays are becoming an increasingly social event, as evidenced by the promotional campaigns of two major department store chains this season.

According to Adweek, both Target and Macy’s are heavily leveraging a variety of social media platforms to engage consumers for the 2015 holiday season. Target has increased the percentage of its overall paid media spend represented by social to 12%, up 30% from about 9% in 2014.

Online spending this holiday season is shaping up to be downright joyful for retailers.

According to comScore, total online retail spending for the November–December period will reach $70.1 billion, representing a 14% gain from $61.3 billion a year earlier. Total desktop spending is expected to reach $58.3 billion, up 9% from $53.3 million.

A department store and a beauty specialty retailer have the best momentum in social media going into the holiday season. Meanwhile, an online giant is losing steam.

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.

A four-year, $400 million upgrade has transformed Macy’s Herald Square flagship. But for all the modernization, there is a signature element of the store that remains as is: the Otis wooden escalators—20 in all— that have been in operation for as long as 95 years.

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The narrative is a familiar one: the scourge of online sales, encroaching ominously on brick-and-mortar market share, continues to siphon sales and transform the retail industry into an increasingly virtual landscape. Over the last few years, nearly every retail sales drop or unexpectedly poor performance has been laid at the feet of the Internet.