Mass Merchant

New York - Forty-one percent of consumers plan to head to the stores on Black Friday,18% plan to shop in a physical store on Thanksgiving, and 32% of consumers will hit the stores on the following Saturday and/or Sunday, according to new data from the International Council of Shopping Centers. More than one-third (36%) of consumers plan to go to a physical store on Cyber Monday.

Los Angeles – Online coupon/deals site Savings.com, is launching the PriceJump mobile application for iOS. The new app leverages real-time pricing data from more than 5,000 online retailers, local stores and Amazon.com to find shoppers the lowest price on any item they want to buy.

With the value of its flagship store on New York City’s Fifth Avenue appraised at an astonishing $3.7 billion, Saks parent Hudson’s Bay Co. has taken out a $1.25 billion loan to pay down debt and finance a $250 million renovation in 2015.

New York - It appears that Hudson’s Bay Co. got itself quite a deal when it purchased Saks Fifth Avenue in 2013 for the sum of $2.9 billion, including debt. Saks’s signature  Fifth Avenue flagship has recently been appraised at an whopping $3.65 billion—significantly more than Hudson’s Bay paid for the entire chain.  As much as anything, however, the appraisal reflects the strength of Manhattan’s retail real estate market.

NEW YORK - Fitch expects U.S. sales growth to modestly improve in the coming holiday season, with retail sales (excluding auto) expected to grow at 3%-4% in November/December versus 2.8% year to date. Fitch expects online sales will grow in the 12%-14% range during the fourth quarter, in line with year to date levels.

Austin, Texas - Three in four Americans have made an impulse purchase. According to a new CreditCards.com report, nearly 90% of millennials said they had made an impulse purchase, compared to just 56% of seniors. And in an interesting finding,  men were nearly three times more likely than women to impulse buy while “intoxicated,” while women were twice as likely as men to impulse buy while “sad.”   The most common emotions at the time of purchase? “Excited” and “bored.”

Walmart has appointed Tom Horton, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, as the 16th member of its board of directors. Horton will also serve on the audit committee.  

With the recent announcement that it will build a new digital innovation lab in Boston, CVS Health has joined the ranks of retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores and Target Corp,  who have also launched similar facilities.  Not every retailer is in the position to build its own proprietary innovation hot house,  but there are many advantages for those with the resources to do so.  Following are three key reasons that retail innovation labs are a good idea.