Mass Merchant

The Amazon Echo smart home device represents a potential threat to Amazon’s competitors, but sales are sales.

Amazon Echo will be available in more than 3,000 stores around the country in time for the holiday shopping season. Select locations of ABT, BJ’s Wholesale Club, The Home Depot, Staples, Sears, Brookstone, RadioShack, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Hhgregg, P.C. Richard & Son, and R.C. Wiley will offer Echo.

With a little over two weeks until Black Friday weekend, Best Buy, HHgregg and other retailers are hoping many U.S. consumers have made shopping after Thanksgiving dinner a holiday tradition.

The consumer electronics retailers joined a growing list of retailers that released their Thanksgiving 
plans this week. Both Best Buy and HHgregg have decided to keep their same holiday sales plans from last year.

At one point or another, anyone discussing the future of personalization in offline retail has quoted the film Minority Report, where virtual billboards scan Tom Cruise, and immediately customize their message. The virtual assistant in Gap refers to the last time he entered the store, and inquires about his recent purchase.

Now, 13 years later, some of these technologies are becoming mainstream. For example, large retailers like Target and venues like the new Levi’s Stadium are equipped with beacons to customize your experience.

Nearly one-third of retailers surveyed by JLL say they plan to open on Thanksgiving Day in order to get a jump on Black Friday sales.

JLL’s 2015 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, also reveals more than half of those retailers expect an uptick in shopper traffic this year.

 Any toy purchased at Meijer through Nov. 30 will help the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer grant a child's wish this holiday season.

Meijer is once again donating a portion of customer purchases made in the toy department, up to $400,000, to children's gift-giving programs throughout the Midwest.

A prolonged drop in gas prices is boosting hopes among retailers that consumers will spend more this holiday season.

According to the latest Consumer Fuels Survey by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), more than one in four (26%) consumers expect to increase their spending this month, a seven-point jump over the past month and the highest percentage this year. Last November, only 21% of consumers expected to increase their spending, according to the survey.

It turns out that the No. 1 retail perk for online shoppers is not speedy delivery, according to Deloitte's 30th annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.

The survey shows that free shipping is the top retailer policy preferred by shoppers. Furthermore, the ubiquity of personal mobile devices allows consumers to take their time researching purchases and store policies giving them opportunity to request exactly what they want.

Nearly one-third of retailers surveyed by JLL say they plan to open on Thanksgiving Day in order to get a jump on Black Friday sales.

JLL’s 2015 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, also reveals more than half of those retailers expect an uptick in shopper traffic this year.