News

Costco sales mostly soft in January
Same-store sales at Costco were mostly flat in January across the globe, mirroring reports from other retailers reporting soft sales.
Rite Aid shareholders approve Walgreens Boots Alliance merger
Rite Aid stockholders have voted to approve the proposed merger with Walgreens Boots Alliance, the Pennsylvania retailer announced Thursday morning.

Approximately 97% of the votes cast at today's special meeting of stockholders voted in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement, which represented approximately 74% of Rite Aid's total outstanding shares of common stock as of the Dec. 18, 2015 record date and constitutes a majority of the outstanding shares of Rite Aid common stock entitled to vote at the special meeting.

Study: Emerging commerce channel comes of age

A digital consumer touch-point long thought to offer little in the way of “hard” ROI appears to be changing that trend.

According to a study of aggregated, anonymized U.S. traffic and revenue data from Kibo (the new company created from the merger of MarketLive, Shopatron and Fiverun), there was a 138% increase in total social revenue during 2015 compared to 2014.
Survey: Retailers need to move to customer-centric model

For all their talk about the customer, most retailers have yet to evolve to a business model that is truly customer-centric.

That’s the conclusion of a new industry study by strategic consulting firm The O Alliance that was created in partnership with Revmetri.
Retailers need to move to customer-centric model

For all their talk about the customer, most retailers have yet to evolve to a business model that is truly customer-centric.

That’s the conclusion of a new industry study by strategic consulting firm The O Alliance that was created in partnership with Revmetri.
Boot Barn kicks into higher gear in Q3

Boot Barn reported double-digit profit and revenue growth in the third quarter helped by its recent acquisition of Sheplers.
Challenging holiday takes toll on Kohl’s profit

Positive trends with its online business were not enough to help Kohl’s offset in-store weakness and intense competition, which pressured profits and caused a significant downward revision in guidance.

Kohl’s said its fourth quarter same-store sales increased 0.4% while the digital business grew 30%. Full year same store sales increase 0.7%.
Report: eBay fixes security issue, is it enough?

According to Forbes, during the week of Feb. 1, eBay Inc. remediated a flaw in its network security program that allowed hackers to place malware within the “active content” eBay merchants use to deliver pop-up ads and other dynamic messaging to customers. However, this action may not be enough to address wider security issues at eBay. [Forbes]
Lunar New Year inspires Macy's marketing campaign

Macy’s is looking to leverage the popularity of the Lunar New Year through a variety of promotions in-store.

The retailer is planning to host artistic performances, fashion, in-store visuals and cuisine presentations at select stores nationwide, with the uniqueness of Asian culture on prominent display for visitors to admire while they shop.
The surprising lessons retailers can learn from online dating sites

Dating websites exploit data relationships to find great matches and the same approach can help retailers make a love connection with their customers.

Online dating is a huge success story. Estimated to be a $2 billion global business, about one in every ten Americans is using an online site or mobile dating app to look for love today.