News

Former Sam's Club exec joins Boxed.com as chief merchandising officer
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.
Black Friday: Why Retailers Need a Backup Plan
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.

Webinar: Are your analytics capabilities keeping up — or falling short?

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.
Report: Retailers balk at through-the-roof rents on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

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 takes a hit in October

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.
Report: Amazon’s apparel and accessories sales surging

Amazon is poised to become the biggest clothing retailer in the United States in 2017. That’s according to a report by Cowen & Co., which sees the Internet giant’s clothing/accessories sales increasing some 30% next year to $28 billion, Geekwire.com reported, and to $62 billion in 2021. Click here to read more.
Samsung Pay adds three new countries, online payments to portfolio

One year after launching, Samsung Pay is expanding the program’s reach and functionality. Samsung Pay is now available in three new countries, including Malaysia, Russia and Thailand, which will make the mobile wallet accessible to consumers across 10 countries by the end of 2016.
Gymboree reports tough third quarter

A rough summer season, and an adjusted fiscal year end, took a toll on Gymboree’s third quarter earnings. The retailer’s net sales for the three months ended July 30, 2016, were $250.3 million, a decrease of 4% compared to $261.8 million for the three months ended August 1, 2015.
Retail phase of 65-acre Florida project is approved

Metropica, a 65-acre community planned for Sunrise, Florida, will begin building 370,000 sq. ft. of retail, dining, and entertainment space after getting the go-ahead from the town’s Planning and Zoning Committee. Tenants waiting to fill the space include iPic Theaters, Anthropologie, Fogo de Chao, Kings Bowl, and Kona Grill. Also approved as part of this first phase of construction phase were a 345-unit apartment building, a 240-room hotel, and 140,000 sq. ft. of office space.
Deloitte: In a first, online to match physical store spending this holiday

Retailers could see record Web traffic this year, according to Deloitte's 31st annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.
Cabela’s earnings slip in Q3

Despite sales gains, Cabela’s experienced profit losses for the third quarter. For the quarter ended Oct. 1, 2016, the outdoor retailer’s total revenue increased 7.6% to $996.5 million; revenue from retail store sales increased 8.1% to $688.6 million; Internet and catalog sales increased 3.6% to $167.4 million; and financial services revenue increased 8.8% to $134.5 million.
Report: Retailers will lose $50 per person in shrink this holiday season

The retail loss burden overall is expected to be $132 per person this year. However, $50 of this loss — about twice as much as in other calendar quarters — is expected to be incurred in this holiday season, according to “The 2016 Retail Holiday Season Global Forecast” from Checkpoint Systems. The report provides an analytical view of business risks that major retailers face during this holiday season.