News

Selfies are taking on a new role when it comes to driving the guest experience at Ulta Beauty.   With e-commerce sales jumping 59.1% for the third quarter — on top of 56.3% growth last year — the beauty retailer is pulling out all of the stops when it comes to evolving and upgrading the guest experience. Once of the company’s newest initiatives is its Glam Lab.  

The Mall of America is making headlines for one of its seasonal hires.  

More holiday shoppers grabbed Cyber Week deals this year than ever before — and retailers are eager to keep up the momentum.   Consumers set new records for online sales this year across Black Friday and Cyber Monday, marking a 15.7% year-over-year (YoY) increase in transactions compared to online holiday sales last year. However, there is another day contributing to this increase: Bounceback Tuesday — the day following Cyber Monday where advertisers are actively re-engaging shoppers to drive additional sales.  

Luxury retailers are not advocates of fast fashion, but Matchesfashion.com’s new service gives the term a new meaning.  

Ulta Beauty shows no signs of losing its momentum as the chain reported a strong quarter and raised its full-year outlook for the third time this year.   Ulta’s performance was impressive, both in brick-and-mortar and online where its sales jumped nearly 60%. (For commentary, click here.)    

Ulta has finished its third quarter with another very impressive set of numbers. Despite lapping some tough comparatives, the pace of growth has quickened with strong uplifts in total and comparable sales, as well as on the bottom line where operating and net income both grew by well over 20%.  

At a time when consumers have been trained to hold out for the sale, lingerie retailer Etam has entered into a partnership with First Insights designed to empower the brand to get the product and price right the first time.       

Family-owned and operated Meijer is getting a new CEO — and for the first time in the retailer’s 82-year history, it’s not a family member.   Effective January 1, 2017, Rick Keyes, president of Meijer, will add the title of CEO. He will replace Hank Meijer, who is stepping down as chief executive and will serve as executive chairman of the board.  

Competition was fierce during Cyber Week, however, the clear winners were those retailers that stayed in-stock and offered assortments at the best price points.    That’s according to the third annual “Holiday Season Report” from Ugam. The managed analytics firm collected and analyzed detailed assortment and pricing information among Amazon, Best Buy, Jet.com, Target, Toys "R" Us and Walmart during Thanksgiving week, from Nov. 24-28, 2016.   

Athletic giant adidas has opened a giant of a flagship, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 46th Street in Manhattan. The four-story, 45,000-sq.-ft. store is the brand’s largest location in the world.    The new space marks the debut of adidas’ stadium retail concept, which is inspired by high school stadiums and celebrates creativity in sport. The store features a tunnel entrance, stands for live-game viewing on big screens, locker room-styled dressing rooms and track and turf sections where customers can try out products.