Mass Merchant

Nearly all shoppers will be shopping a variety of channels this holiday season.   Ninety-six percent of shoppers plan to make a purchase from a retailer who has both a physical and an online presence, with 40% of them buying online and picking up in-store, according to a report by the International Council of Shopping Centers. And 81% of those shoppers plan to make additional purchases when collecting their item(s).  

Target Corp. is making it easier for customers to find their way around its stores — and to quickly find what they are looking for.   The chain is integrating beacon and Bluetooth technology into its mobile app. It will show the shopper’s location in real-time on the app's map as they move about the store, and display nearby Cartwheel deals. Shoppers will also be able to find an item on the map through their digital shopping list.  

The delivery wars continue to heat up as Target Corp. announced it was rolling out its next-day delivery service of household essentials, Target Restock, to eight new markets.  

Walmart and Target are among the companies pressuring political leaders to find a solution for the roughly 800,000 immigrants known as “Dreamers.”  

To work in retail is to accept the inevitability of déjà vu. But what returns is often never quite the same, as can be seen in the current struggle by many shopping malls to generate enough traffic to remain viable. Let me take you back to the days of my initiation to retail in New Orleans (site of next week’s National Retail Tenants Association conference), when malls began rising in former fields and woodlands and store owners in all regions struggled to manage the change.  

Walmart is bucking the holiday hiring trend again this year.    Unlike other competitors that are hiring thousands of temporary workers to service shoppers during the holiday season, the discount giant plans to offer extra hours to its current associates. These shifts will staff traditional roles like cashier and stocker, and newly created technology-empowered positions, such as personal shoppers and Pickup associates, according to Walmart.  

American Eagle Outfitters is entering an emerging global retail market.   The teen retailer is preparing for its debut in India. American Eagle’s expansion will be supported through a multi-year license agreement with the Aditya Birla Group. The Indian conglomerate has an extensive retail portfolio, as well as strong digital and omnichannel capabilities.    The first stores are expected to open in Mumbai and Delhi in Spring 2018.  

Walmart is changing the way it stocks merchandise in its small-format Neighborhood Market Stores.     In a blog on its website, the discounter announced that in more than 430 of its Neighborhood Market stores that are already closed overnight, it is shifting overnight stocking hours to the daytime and using technology to make the inventory management process easier. The retailer said it initially piloted day-stocking in 50 stores in and around the Tampa and Dallas areas with "very encouraging" results.