Retail

It would take a pretty big event to cause Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Off 5th, and Neiman Marcus to all align their online discount offers.

Singles Day, coming up on Nov. 11, is just that size of an event. Once an informal celebration of the Chinese singles dating scene, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba formally turned Singles Day into a shopping holiday in 2009. The occasion generated gross merchandise volume of more than $9.3 billion on the Alibaba Alipay mobile and digital payment platform alone in 2014.

Think quick – who are your top competitors? No matter what product category or channels you operate in, if your list of top two or three rivals doesn’t include Amazon.com, it probably needs updating.

Staples CIO Tom Conophy has publicly identified Amazon as a prime competitor, and Walmart has launched a clear strategy of trying to one-up Amazon innovations like Prime Day and delivery drones. But even if you’re not a major big-box chain, Amazon still most likely represents a critical threat to your market share. Here are three reasons why.

Online retail sales continue to increase – both in absolute terms and as a percentage of total retail sales. The fact remains, however, that online commerce takes place in what is essentially a one-dimensional transactional venue.

When Amazon.com opened its first brick-and-mortar store this month selling books, many wondered what the e-commerce giant was up to. Now Forbes is telling us what that is. [Forbes]

A start-up retail logistics company and award-winning retail designer are behind an unusual — and very tech-savvy — new “smart” store model that has just opened its doors.

Everyone knows shrink is a major issue, and retailers are continually rolling out more sophisticated means of preventing shrink. However, according to Fortune, Walmart’s shrink prevention efforts have included the use of “sci-fi” facial recognition technology to identify suspected shoplifters, and there may be privacy concerns. [Fortune]

While some retailers are taking a stand this year against opening on Thanksgiving Day and even Black Friday, Toys“R”Us thinks its customers will be ready to do some shopping after their turkey dinners.

The toy retailer announced that its stores will open at 5 p.m. on Nov. 26, the same time as last year. Stores will remain open through 11 p.m. on Nov. 27.

Last month outdoors retailer REI said it would close on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Jo-Ann Fabrics, GameStop, At Home and Staples have also announced they would not open on Thanksgiving. 

E-commerce platform provider Demandware has released its annual list of retail predictions for 2016, and many of them center on how machines will continue taking over tasks once done by people.

Out of the nine trends Demandware identifies, four are related to growing IT automation: machine learning driving voice-based intelligence assistants, in-store payment evolving dramatically, data-driven decision marketing replacing gut instinct, and last-mile fulfillment providers driving instant gratification.