News

Washington, D.C. –- During the 2014 holiday season, spending on tiny plastic or digital gift cards will top all previous records. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Gift Card Spending Survey, the average person buying gift cards will spend $172.74, up from $163.16 in 2013. Total spending is expected to reach $31.74 billion.  

I recently had the opportunity to visit the funky Las Vegas headquarters of online footwear/apparel/accessories retailer Zappos.com. Zappos is generally regarded as one of the most customer-friendly retailers around, and after seeing how things work behind the scenes I can attest this reputation is well deserved. Here are five cool ways Zappos uses corporate culture and innovation to disrupt the customer experience and behind-the-scenes operations.  

Walmart EVP of merchandise operations Scott Huff is scheduled to address members of the Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce at an upcoming event.

The Grommet is partnering with a store in Boston to launch a “pop-in” shop on Nov. 20 as part of an effort to bridge the gap between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores.

With so many consumers on the hunt for unique holiday gifts, the Grommet said it wants shoppers to be able to touch, test and purchase the company’s offerings. The “pop-in” Grommet shop will be located within Boston boutique Michelle Willey and be open from Nov. 20 through the end of December.

Ann Arbor, Mich. –- Domino’s Pizza is launching its Tracker app, which allows customers to trace their order from the time it is taken, baked and out for delivery, will now be available on the Pebble smartwatch device. This marks the first time that Domino's Tracker has been available on any smartwatch device.    

Goleta, Calif. -- UGG parent company Deckers Brands announced the grand opening of its first-ever UGG Australia technology-driven concept store, located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.    

Kohl’s is heading into the holidays with a loss of momentum after third quarter same store sales declined 1.8% and the company missed analysts’ earnings estimate by four cents.

The third quarter comp decrease of 1.8% was on top of a prior year decline of 1.6%. Total sales at the operator of 1,163 stores declined slightly to $4.37 billion from $4.44 billion. Net income declined to $142 million, or 70 cents a share, from $177 million, or 81 cents a share.

Bentonville, Ark. -- A rare sales bump may provide the world’s largest retailer just the momentum it needs going into the important holiday season, say Wall Street analysts, as Wal-Mart reported that 3Q same-store sales rose at U.S. namesake stores for the first time in nearly two years.

 

However, Wal-Mart tempered the news with warnings that a highly promotional environment lies ahead.