Sales & Marketing

The nation’s largest online retailer has big plans for brick-and-mortar expansion.  

Based on its third quarter earnings, Carter’s predicts that is on its way to its 28th consecutive year of sales growth.   The brand specializing in babies and young children’s apparel and accessories reported a net sales increase of 6.1%, totaling $901.4 million. The company credits this growth on its U.S. Carter’s and OshKosh retail businesses, Carter’s wholesale business, and international segment.  

While Black Friday comes just once a year, most retailers have probably been planning for the major shopping day – and the rest of the holiday season – for quite some time now. For shoppers, Black Friday through Cyber Monday – also known as “Cyber Week” – are all about scoring the best deals on gifts for their family and friends. And similar to recent years, most shoppers won’t simply be flooding physical stores this holiday season. Rather, they will also take advantage of deals through e-commerce websites and mobile apps. 

Boxed.com, the online wholesale shopping club with no membership fees, on Thursday named former Sam's Club executive Heather Mayo the company's chief merchandising officer.     Mayo will lead the development and execution of all merchandising strategies and initiatives, and will be responsible for delivering the optimal product assortment as dictated by the brand's strategy and unique target customer profile.  

Boot Barn’s second quarter performance rose slightly, meeting Wall Street estimates. The western-influenced specialty retailer reported $134 million in revenue for the second quarter ending Sept. 24, 2016, a 3.3% increase from $129.7 million in the prior-year period. This jump also exceeded Wall Street’s estimate of $131.61 million. Boot Barn credited the increase to 13 new stores opened over the past 12 months, and a 1.8% increase in same-store sales. Two of those stores opened the chain during the second quarter.

An extended holiday season could translate into an 11% increase in online sales with mobile devices leading the charge.   Adobe’s “2016 Digital Insights Shopping Predictions” report predicts that 53 consecutive days (57 calendar days in total) will exceed $1 billion in online sales, compared to 31 consecutive days last year — a 71% year-over-year (YoY) increase.   

Knowing frazzled customers are in search of overall value, Walmart is emphasizing customer service this holiday season.   

Despite gains in the third quarter, Amazon’s stock fell 6% in extended trading.   The pure-play retailer’s net sales increased 29% to $32.7 billion for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2016, compared with $25.4 billion in third quarter 2015. The company credits the jump to $52 million in year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter.