TECHNOLOGY

Beauty retailer outperforming all others in social media run up to Black Friday
With the Black Friday weekend nearly here, there are clear winners when it comes to social media engagement. At the head of the class is Sephora, with 2.4 million consumer interactions (reactions, comments, shares, retweets, favorites) across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sephora’s top status is being driven by its success on Instagram, a site that reveals high consumer enthusiasm for the retailer’s offerings of makeup box sets and key brands, such as Bite Beauty and Urban Decay, as well as its own collection.
This retailer is donating 100% of its Black Friday sales to help the environment
Talk about commitment. Patagonia announced that its plans to donate 100% of its store and online sales on Black Friday, Nov. 25, to grassroots environmental organizations. "These are small groups, often underfunded and under the radar, who work on the front lines," Patagonia CEO and president Rose Marcario wrote in a post announcing the company’s plans. "The support we can give is more important now than ever."

Lowe’s uses Facebook Live to tease Black Friday deals
Survey: Gen Z is a big influencer

Watch out millennials, there’s a new generational cohort upsetting the retail landscape. Generation Z has become an increasingly important influencer of consumer spending, according to a new study by HRC Retail Advisory, with new shopping behaviors that focus on both malls and online shopping. (The HRC survey describes Gen Z as individuals born between 1999 and 2006).
Google getting more serious about brick-and-mortar retail

Google is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence. Following the opening of its New York City pop-up store last month, Google has partnered with Best Buy to amp up its retail presence.
Lowe’s partners with San Francisco start-up to sell tech devices

Lowe’s Companies is partnering with an unusual and very tech-savvy retailer to sell “smart” home devices. The home improvement retailer has teamed up with San-Francisco-based b8ta to launch an in-store shop concept dedicated to demystifying and simplifying the purchase of smart home devices Called “SmartSpot powered by b8ta,” the new concept is currently in place in three Lowe’s stores in California (Livermore, Burbank and Aliso Viejo).
There’s no place likes stores for the holidays

Want to get in the holiday spirit? Visit a store. The overwhelming majority (75%) of Americans believe shopping in a store is one of the best ways to get in the holiday spirit, while 58% say that online shopping takes some of the fun out of holiday shopping, according to new research by Citi Retail Services.
The least busy day of the holiday shopping season will be…

Most experts agree that the busiest day of this year’s holiday shopping season is likely to be Saturday, Dec. 17. But what about shoppers who want to avoid the crowds? According to RetailNext Inc., Tuesday, Nov. 29 will afford the widest berths in malls and stores.
A.T. Kearney: Economic resilience spikes holiday spending

Forty percent of U.S. consumers plan to spend more this year than during the 2015 holiday shopping season, driven by better job prospects and an improving economy. That’s one of the findings of the A.T. Kearney 2016 Holiday Shopping Survey, which was conducted online from Oct. 24 – Oct. 25, 2016.
Beacons’ Next Step: Bringing ‘Online’ to the Real World, Getting Personal

In 2013, to much hype and social media fanfare, Apple introduced the iBeacon into their iOS with release 4.0. Then everything went quiet, mostly because very few applications for the technology exist, and not enough developers understood the unlimited potential of the technology.