News

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores has reinforced its support of the military by introducing an everyday 10 percent discount for all past or present members of the armed forces and their families.

The nation’s leading fabric and craft specialty retailer with 850 stores said all military members, past or present, and their families qualify for the 10 percent everyday discount. To receive the discount, customers must provide proof of military service or military dependent ID upon checkout. The discount is valid in-store only.

Former top Sears executive Mark Cohen is at it again with harsh words recently about Sears holiday performance and long term viability.

Cohen, former chairman and CEO of Sears Canada turned teacher at Columbia’s business school, appeared on CNBC to share his views on a holiday season with top line growth that appears to have exceeded earlier forecasts.

“Sears again is going to be an enormous loser,” Cohen said.

Technology will give fraudsters an edge in 2015, but it will also provide new tools for organizations and investigators, according to three experts from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) who were asked for their top fraud predictions for 2015. The experts weighed in on digital currencies, information security and other issues that will help shape the effort to prevent and detect fraud in the new year:  

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Watch out Amazon, QVC is at your back—at least when it comes to  customer satisfaction.  

With an online storefront on the Amazon Webstore hosted e-commerce platform, New York-based direct-to-consumer specialty fashion retailer Spiegel LLC is already extending its virtual presence. Taking that extended Amazon Webstore presence a step further into the world of social commerce is the next logical step in engaging consumers in whatever channel they choose.

Female executives make their mark on the world of retail IT

It’s no secret that neither the retail industry nor the technology industry has exactly achieved parity when it comes to granting women access to top-level decision-making positions. According to a report from IIC Partners, 64% of retailers said their senior executive team was less than 25% female — despite the fact that women drive a whopping 85% of all consumer purchases.

Women are famously underrepresented in technology.

There’s been no shortage of developments in retail payments this past year. From high-profile data breaches forcing retailers to reconsider their security strategy, to the launch of Apple Pay bringing mobile to the forefront, both retailers and consumers have been paying unprecedented attention to their transactions.

With innovative players entering the fold and the U.S. payments infrastructure upgrade well under way, the industry is poised for a shift over the next several years.

The 2014 holiday season has shown how shoppers’ growing preference for e-commerce can be challenging for retailers. By offering customers free shipping and ever-faster delivery, and by handling the higher rates of return that often come with e-commerce, retailers potentially face either reduced profit margins or loss in market share if they don’t keep up with customer preferences.

As they plan for 2015, many retailers will consider how they can provide a seamless customer experience that fundamentally helps them to maintain or improve profit margins.

Ezra Dabah is no stranger to children’s wear. As the former chairman and CEO of The Children’s Place, he helped create a billion-dollar retail powerhouse. Dabah left the company in 2007, but he returned to the kids fashion business with Ruum American Kid’s Wear, a fashion-forward upmarket concept that bowed in 2012 and operates 24 stores, primarily in malls.

A number of retailers saw changes at the top this past year. Here are the ones I found the most interesting:

Abercrombie & Fitch: The abrupt departure of longtime chief Michael Jeffries presents the former teen powerhouse with an opportunity to bring in a badly needed breath of fresh air.

In his day, no one could touch Jeffries, whose transformation of Abercrombie into a cool, exclusive club is a textbook example of brilliant, holistic retail branding. But Jeffries failed to keep up with the changing times. He seemed blind to the recession.