Data & Analytics

Stored value gift cards have become a staple item in many retailers' holiday assortments. Last year the NRF estimated U.S. consumers would spend close to $29 billion on gift cards during the holiday shopping season, and there is no reason to think the trend is slowing down.

Millennials and boomers are driving an urban push

Generations after people deserted cities for the suburbs, young millennial-generation adults and older baby-boomer adults are moving back downtown.

Retailers aren't far behind, and new, seemingly instant neighborhoods — complete with housing, retail, offices and other forms of real estate — are springing up in redevelopment areas of cities across the country.

Turns out, malls and grocers were made for each other.

A few years ago, Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) renovated Plymouth Meeting Mall in Philadelphia’s northwestern suburbs.

The renovation replaced an old Ikea on the site with a lifestyle component called Plymouth Meeting Mall’s Plaza Shops, which leads customers to the mall entrance.

PREIT brought in a 65,000-sq.-ft. Whole Foods Market as the anchor. 

Widening competition for commodity grocery sales is changing grocery-anchored shopping centers.

Supermarket-anchored shopping centers haven't changed much since the invention of suburbia. Find a good location, sign a grocery anchor, get a construction loan and some inline local, regional and maybe national retailers, and you're in business.

Today, however, supermarkets are beginning to change, and supermarket-anchored shopping centers, of course, must follow along.

Why are grocers changing? Competition from all sides.

Whether it's a remodel or new construction, paint is one of a retailer's most essential and cost-effective design tools. Chain Store Age spoke with Jim Gorman, of Benjamin Moore & Co., about how paint is being affected by technology and environmental concerns. The company, founded in 1883, manufactures its own resins and colorants, and has more than 3,400 colors in its collection.

What is the most common mistake retailers make when it comes to painting?

Generating revenue through electricity contracts

The U.S. retail and wholesale establishments make up one of the largest sectors of electricity consumption in the nation. And they’re likely to use even more within the next few years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, whose recent annual report indicates that commercial and industrial entities will lead domestic growth in primary energy usage through 2040.

In retail, as in life, experience is everything. Whether it’s online, on a smartphone or in the store, it really doesn’t make a difference. A bad experience will turn off customers, while a good one will build brand advocates. It’s always been like that, of course. But today’s technology-enabled shoppers have changed the rules of the game by upping the stakes considerably.

In first U.S. application, H-E-B deploys energy-efficient, propane refrigeration system

H-E-B is thinking green — and out of the box — when it comes to refrigeration. The company is the first U.S. retailer to deploy a propane refrigeration system in its refrigerated display cases.

The Hussmann-designed system is in place in H-E-B’s new 83,000-sq.-ft. store in Austin, Texas, which is part of the redevelopment of an old airport site in the city’s Mueller neighborhood. The entire project is focused on sustainability and energy efficiency. So is H-E-B.

Retailers tapping into technology to maximize in-store labor during the busiest season

Let the games begin.

Retailers are gearing up for the Super Bowl of the holiday-selling season, when stores generate up to 40% of their annual sales and boost their staffs in light of the heightened shopping spree.

As technology reshapes the retail landscape at a dizzying pace, it’s also advancing the art and science of aligning sales and traffic patterns with in-store labor — particularly crucial during the make-or-break winter selling period.

To provide customers with true omnichannel shopping capabilities, retailers must internally align all store and ERP functions. Mike Burge, founder and CEO of integrated retail enterprise platform provider MI9, recently spoke with Chain Store Age about how effective omnichannel retailing works and how retailers can leverage IT systems to achieve success in an omnichannel environment.

What are the main objectives of omnichannel?