Data & Analytics

New e-commerce platform helps retailer better serve shoppers

Ulta Beauty is on a roll — offline and on. It’s growing in the physical space, with 100 new stores on tap for 2017, and is also expanding its capabilities in the digital space.

Ulta’s e-commerce sales hit $345.3 million in 2016, and online traffic continues to climb. For its most recently completed quarter, e-commerce sales grew 63.4%, and mobile volume rose more than 90%.

Want to stay ahead of the competition — or at least keep pace with it? Invest in a tech lab — or an accelerator.

With the pressure to innovate greater than ever, savvy retailers understand they can no longer wait for new solutions and technologies to be proven in the field. That’s why so many of them have invested in tech labs (aka “retail innovation labs”).

Trends offer new opportunities, responsibilities

The next great thing isn’t a piece of tech, an improved process, a branded message, or a fast-changing business model. It’s all this — at once. The fact is the next great thing is retail itself.

Retail lies at the convergence point of some of the most profound changes any business can experience. More, it plays out in front of customers and the rest of the world in real time. Retail brands that quickly harness new ideas by learning the details that make them work well become the winners.

Whether purchasing individual assets or restructuring entire portfolios, top acquirers have plans and stick to them.

Stick to your knitting. That appears to be the mantra for this year’s top acquirers, all of which, save one, have appeared on this list in previous years. Most relate that, in the late stages of a recovery, discipline, tenacity and structure are key to closing deals. This year, staffers at two of these tenacious companies can chant, “We’re No. 1!”

As digital commerce forces brick-and-mortar stores to innovate, industry experts share their views on the future of physical retail.

From department stores to discounters to home improvement chains, nearly all retailers are engaged in the same game: trying to imagine what stores of the future will look like in an increasingly digitized world.

Every business magazine sports an “X Under 40” list celebrating precocious professionals. But, really, isn’t it almost always youthful drive and optimism that feeds the engine of progress?

The stories of Chain Store Age’s 2017 list of over-achievers under 40 abound with examples of young people from different disciplines who all discovered retail real estate as the perfect channel for their passions.

Retail and restaurant executives, architects, suppliers and other industry professionals involved in store design/planning, construction and facility management gathered together for Chain Store Age’s 53rd annual SPECS conference.

The event, held at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Fla., focused on the evolution and innovation of physical stores in a digital age, and explored industry trends that are transforming how stores are designed, built, operated and maintained.

Shoppers may notice digital ads, but they are not necessarily clicking on, or responding to, them.   That’s according to a new study by Valassis, “Motivating the Dynamic Shopper: Purchase Decisions In-Progress,” which analyzes how digital ads best engage and then motivate customers to take action. Three groups were studied; parents, millennials and Gen X.   

There’s been a reorganization at Whole Foods Market.   On Wednesday, the natural-foods retailer named a new chairwoman and five new independent directors, effective immediately. It also appointed a former Kohl’s executive as CFO.   The changes come as activist investors and restless shareholders have been demanding Whole Foods accelerate the turnaround its business. The board shakeup came on the same day as the retailer released second quarter earnings that met analysts’ expectations. 

What happens after an order is placed is crucial in driving website traffic and revenue.