News

Wayfair is making a bold move to grab more consumer wallet-share, and compete with brick-and-mortar retailers.   Complementing its private label credit card, Wayfar is offering a financing option to consumers purchasing furniture and decor. Through a partnership with financial services company Affirm, Wayfair shoppers now have the flexibility to buy now and make monthly payments for their purchases — a move that extend financing options to a broader range of customers.  

GNC had higher expectations for its third quarter earnings.   The nutritional supplement retailer reported revenue of $628.0 million, a decrease of 8.1% compared with $683.4 million for third quarter 2016, ended Sept. 30, 2016. Similarly, GNC’s net income of $32.4 million dropped compared with $45.8 million in third quarter 2015.  

Cobb Daytona Luxury 12 Theatres will be the first property to start its engines at the mixed-use project rising up across the street from Daytona International Speedway in Florida.   The 56,000-sq.-ft. Cineplex is a luxury play with electric reclining seats, a full-service bar, and the Cobbster’s Kitchen restaurant. It will be joined next year at the One Daytona complex by a 67,000-sq.-ft. Bass Pro Shop Outpost, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, 250 residential units, and another 200,000 sq. ft. of retail.  

Town Center Plaza, an 82,000-sq.-ft. center in Palm Desert, California, near Joshua Tree National Park, has been acquired by Citivest Commercial Investments for $19.8 million.   Constructed in 1993, the center’s tenants include Trader Joe’s, Michael’s, Fisherman’s Market and Grill, and Tuesday Morning. Colliers International brokered the deal on behalf of the seller, Town Center Plaza LP.  

Boohoo.com, the England-based, low-priced fashion Web retailer, will be opening its first brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan’s Union Square neighborhood.   An opening date has not been set, but Cushman & Wakefield reported it has secured the retailer a lease for a 2,000-sq.-ft. space at 3 West 13th Street.  

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.  

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. 

Chain Store Age is sponsoring a webinar that will reveal new market research from the International Institute for Analytics. Learn about IIA’s retail industry analytics maturity index and the characteristics of the highest-performers—and see how your company measures up.     “Competing on analytics” is no longer a mystery. Find out how your company can get with the program.  

Are landlords on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue shooting themselves in the foot by demanding record new rents for the famed shopping address?    The availability rate on Fifth Avenue increased to 15.9% in the third quarter, up from about 10% from a year earlier, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc., Bloomberg reported.    

Consumer confidence experienced an October surprise of sorts after reaching a nine-year high in September.   The index now stands at 98.6, down from 103.5 last month.