News

J.C. Penney shines; beats department store doldrums
Home goods and Sephora helped J.C. Penney turn a page on the ongoing story of its story of transformation by exceeding top-line growth expectations in the third quarter.

For its third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company cut its loss by 27% to $137 million, or 45 cents a share. It reported net sales of $2.90 billion, compared to $2.76 billion in the year-ago period. Same-store sales increased 6.4%.
A holiday sales trend update from NRF
Shoppers have wasted no time in getting started with their holiday purchases this year, according to a new survey.

The National Retail Federation’s Consumer Holiday Spending Survey shows that 56.6% of those celebrating the holidays had already started shopping by early November, up from 54.4% last year and 16% from the 49% who had started by this time in 2008, the first time NRF asked the question. This also marks the highest percentage seen in that timeframe.

Regional grocer delivers e-commerce

Grocery e-commerce has thus far mostly been the province of large vertical players like Kroger, mass merchandisers like Target and Wal-Mart, and online platforms like Amazon and Instacart.

However, a successful regional grocer is throwing its Stetson in the grocery e-commerce ring. Texas-based H-E-B, one of the nation's largest regional grocery retailers with more than 370 stores in Texas and Mexico, is making 50,000 food, drugstore and general merchandise products available to purchase and ship at its corporate site.
At Dick's Sporting Goods, Black Friday is all about social media

While all the major retailers will be offering deals and discounts on Black Friday weekend, Dick's Sporting Goods plans to woo shoppers with an exciting social media promotion.
At Dick's, Black Friday is all about social media

While all the major retailers will be offering deals and discounts on Black Friday weekend, Dick's Sporting Goods plans to woo shoppers with an exciting social media promotion.
eBay provides close look at parents

What if you could target parents based on their specific stage of parenthood, such as expectant or parents of a newborn? According to The Drum, eBay Advertising is rolling out a new tool that will let retailers using its service do just that. [The Drum]
Kohl's grows sales, but not by much

Strong back-to-school sales allowed Kohl's to upstage Macy's in the third quarter.

Kohl's reported that for the third quarter ended Oct. 31, same store sales increased 1%. It had net income of $120 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with net income of $142 million, or 70 cents per share, in the same period a year before. Revenue rose 1.2% to $4.43 billion.
Can Walmart restore sanity to Black Friday?

Walmart’s Thanksgiving weekend promotional strategy is taking a more digital, less promotional turn that may hurt sales but should lessen the scenes of customer chaos and conflict that find their way onto YouTube.
Shopify visualizes easy e-commerce

Image-based e-commerce is becoming more popular on the consumer side, and now Shopify is making the retailer side more visually based.

The new Sello mobile app from e-commerce platform Shopify allows retailers to create a free online store by taking and posting photos of the products they want to sell, and then adding price and a brief description. No coding is involved.
Retailers can also use Sello to promote and sell products via platforms such as social media, email and SMS text. The only charges are fees from payment processors.
Becoming a More Intelligence-Centric Organization to Drive Customer Experience

The “digital revolution” has turned the traditional retail marketplace upside down. Consumer expectations continue to rise and the Internet has broken down borders and created a global marketplace, dramatically increasing competition.