News

Fashion and department stores, perhaps more than other retail segments, understand the benefits of visual merchandising. Consumers may set out to shop for a specific item, but seeing “that item” curated as part of an outfit with related garments and accessories is a surefire way to upsell complementary apparel.

Luxury dinnerware retailer Lenox is enjoying a feast of e-commerce delights with the aid of Oracle Commerce technology.

Lenox boosted e-commerce sales 26% during the 2015 holiday season compared to the two previous holiday seasons after deploying Oracle Commerce solutions that improved areas such as search results, recommendations, and targeted promotions. At the beginning of the holiday season, Lenox began targeting promotions for customer segments and launching more complex pricing strategies.

Build-A-Bear Workshop on Tuesday said it will continue to diversify its store portfolio — including the opening of a branded experience on a cruise ship — as the chain announced disappointing results for its fourth quarter.

The retailer reported a better-than-expected profit of $20.6 million for the quarter, ended January 3, 2016, compared to net income of $11.8 million in the year ago period.

Tailored Brands, formerly Men’s Wearhouse, vowed more changes after its Jos. A Bank division logged a 31.9% decline in same-store sales.

Twenty-nine new products were recognized as “Product of the Year,” at a gala event in New York recently, but earning that distinction comes at a hefty price and leveraging it as part of a marketing effort costs even more.

Whole Foods shoppers looking for organic kale smoothies and non-GMO dog food could soon also get a tattoo while in-store.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Whole Foods CEO Walter Robb  says his company’s new 365 chain is going to try some tactics outside of the conventional grocery-store playbook, including setting up tattoo parlors in the stores.

Read more about the company's plans by clicking here.

For the fourth consecutive year, a department store has nabbed the top spot in a survey of the nation’s favorite fashion retailers.

Nordstrom took the top spot in the study, by Market Force Information.  Interestingly, severak discount retailers moved up the list this year, with Marshalls landing in the No. 2 spot. H&M and Ross Dress for Less tied for third, Kohl’s was fourth and Macy’s was fifth.  

PayPal is entering the buy button arena in a big way.

The new PayPal Commerce service, currently running in closed beta, allows retailers to embed buy buttons into any digital format they choose. This includes blogs, emails, online ads, apps, and social shares. PayPal Commerce is based on a set of open application program interfaces (APIs) and also offers a software developer kit (SDK), making it platform-agnostic and fully embeddable.

Victoria’s Secret has gone big with a remodel in Las Vegas.

Located at Miracle Mile Shops in Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, the expanded and remodeled store is almost triple its original size, and now totals over 20,000 sq. ft. It’s the chain’s largest space to date in Las Vegas.

In addition to Victoria’s Secret’s complete collections, the flagship features a dedicated space for the company’s Pink brand.