eCommerce

The ever-expanding Dollar General has entered its 44th state.   The discounter opened a store in Hankinson, North Dakota. The company plans to open six additional locations in the state through spring 2017.   

A cloud computing/e-commerce giant heads up Fast Company’s annual ranking of the 10 most innovative companies in retail. Amazon not only topped the retail sector category, it also came in number one in the overall World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies listing. (Rounding out the top five: Google, Uber, Apple and Snap.)

Digital shoppers across the United States outdid themselves in the fourth quarter.   Shoppers spent $109.3 billion online during fourth quarter 2016, according to comScore. Overall, this marked an 18% increase compared to the same quarter in 2015.    The majority of this online spending — $86.6 billion — occurred on desktop computers, a 13% increase compared to a year ago.   

The Trump brand at retail has taken another hit.    Sears and Kmart this week removed 31 Trump Home items from their e-commerce sites, Reuters reported, to focus on more profitable products. Neither Sears nor Kmart carried the products in their brick-and-mortar stores.  

One independent grocer is making a move to compete with larger chains. 

Consumers in recent years have shown a seemingly insatiable appetite for special offers and discounts. During the holiday season, retailers generated billions of dollars by rolling-out high-profile promotional strategies – but was this activity actually profitable?   For many retailers, the holiday season lead to significant profit erosion. According to DynamicAction’s Retail Index, 44% of all orders last year were sold on promotion. At the same time, however, retailers saw a 24% reduction in margins.   

These are tough times for outdoor/sporting goods retailers.   Gander Mountain is reportedly considering filing Chapter11 bankruptcy protection, according to Reuters.    Founded in 1960, Gander Mountain specializes in fishing, camping and hunting gear and accessories, and bills itself as “America’s firearms superstore.”   

Birchbox is launching a new, pricier service.   The online beauty subscription retailer will debut a service that enables shoppers to better customize their monthly box of samples, along with other perks, TechCrunch said.    The service, which is only currently available to current subscribers, is $14 per month. The original subscription is $10 per month.