Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 3, 2024

Long viewed as a necessary evil, the retail returns process is emerging as an unexpected avenue for growth and customer engagement. In the rapidly expanding ecommerce market, projected to reach $3 billion in 2023, a significant 20% to 30% of online purchases end up being returned. This substantial return rate highlights a vital opportunity for retail leaders: by revamping the often-overlooked returns process, retailers can unlock a new avenue for driving customer satisfaction and business growth

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Retail Dive

JANUARY 2, 2024

From new marketing techniques to consumers spending despite inflation, here are the big takeaways from the latest holiday season.

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Retail Trends Consumer Marketing 141

Wiser

JANUARY 4, 2024

Companies continually grapple with the best approach to set prices that would not only cover costs but also attract and retain customers. One such approach to consider is economy pricing. Adopting certain pricing strategies could mean the difference between a thriving business and one that struggles to keep its doors open. The question that arises, however, is whether economy pricing is the right fit for every business.

Consumer 145

Consumer Marketing Management Inventory Management 145

Retail Wire

JANUARY 3, 2024

As we approach the second month of the year, love is definitely in the air, and so is the frenzy for Target's limited-edition Valentine's Day Stanley Cups.

ATS 147

ATS 147

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Customer Experience

Retail Focus

JANUARY 5, 2024

Ghalia BOUSTANI. Senior Retail Consultant at Univers Retail | Published author | Visiting lecturer. Luxury retail has undergone a significant transformation driven by digital technology and changing consumer expectations. The term ‘phygitalisation’ is used to describe the fusion of physical and digital realms to create a seamless and enhanced customer experience.

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Customer Experience Supply Chain Management Clienteling Management 147

Inside Retail

JANUARY 3, 2024

Retail activity has been a defining facet of cities since antiquity. The Greek Agora and Roman Forum may be viewed as the original CBDs – central business districts, or what urban planners call activity centres. Retail spaces have evolved over time. Urbanisation, mass production and the rise of conspicuous consumption led to the high street and CBD dominating the retail landscape across the Western world from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century.

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Department Stores Shopping Outdoor Consumer 147

Retail Wire

JANUARY 1, 2024

China's manufacturing scene experienced a significant pullback in December, marking its third consecutive month of contraction and underscoring the persisting lethargy in the world's second-biggest economy.

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RIS News

JANUARY 3, 2024

Another holiday season is behind us, and retailers will now begin reflecting on their performance. Some early results show U.S. retail sales during the 2023 holiday season grew by 3.1% year-over-year, falling short of predictions and the previous year's figures.

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Consumer 107

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 2, 2024

JD.com has won a lawsuit against rival Alibaba Group in the High People’s Court of Beijing, which fined Alibaba 1 billion yuan ( $140 million) for engaging in monopolistic practices. JD.com had sued Alibaba and its ecommerce divisions, Zhejiang Tmall Network and Zhejiang Tmall Technology, for practicing “choosing one of two” behaviors — essentially saying to suppliers that if they sold to JD.com, they would not be allowed to sell on Alibaba.

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Marketing Planning Consumer 325

Inside Retail

JANUARY 2, 2024

Levi Strauss & Co’s Eureka Innovation Lab is located on a quiet, dead-end street near Coit Tower in San Francisco. Unassuming from the outside, the brick warehouse is a hive of activity within. Sewing machines whir, washing machines thump and lasers beep as they precisely cut holes into raw denim. Hundreds of jeans in every shade of blue hang on the walls and mysterious trunks covered in stickers from around the world are stacked wherever there’s room, while jazz music plays in the backgroun

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Drop-Shipping Fashion Shipping ATS 277

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Retail Wire

JANUARY 5, 2024

The nation has witnessed a widespread uptick in fast-food prices, primarily attributed to the escalating operational costs, especially labor.

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Retail Focus

JANUARY 3, 2024

While the retail sector outlook for 2024 is expected to be muted, hampered by ongoing macroeconomic challenges, weakened consumer demand and low economic growth prospects, retailers mustn’t let stagnation stifle innovation and future opportunities, the KPMG/RetailNext Retail Think Tank (RTT) , an independent board of retail experts, warns. With the UK economy set to tread water in 2024, the RTT expects this will impact growth within the retail sector.

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Beauty and Health Consumer Supermarket Returns 162

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 2, 2024

To drive customer retention and loyalty, most brands and retailers continue to rely on purchase discounts ( 77% ) and loyalty program points ( 61% ), according to Retail TouchPoints research. However, a Deloitte survey reveals that consumers’ loyalty program preferences and expectations are evolving. While financial benefits are still top of mind — largely thanks to inflation pressures and tightened household budgets — consumers are increasingly seeking services and experiences that truly reflec

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Drop-Shipping Consumer Customer Retention Shipping 309

Inside Retail

JANUARY 4, 2024

AI is a non-negotiable for retailers. As the driving force behind a new era of hyper-personalisation, efficiency and sustainable retail experiences, its impact on the way we shop cannot be understated. So as more and more retailers integrate the benefits of AI into their growth strategy, what will be next for this transformative technology? And how will it shape the way we shop?

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Consumer Customer Experience Department Stores Shopping 266

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Accounting

Retail Wire

JANUARY 3, 2024

On Tuesday, Apple fell by almost 3.6% to a low that has not been experienced in seven weeks after Barclays downgraded the shares due to concerns that demand for its devices will still be fragile in 2024.

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Retail Customer Experience

JANUARY 3, 2024

January offers retailers another enticing opportunity to make gains with shoppers at a time when competitors are taking their eye off the ball.

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ATS 128

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 5, 2024

Personalization is at something of a crossroads. The New Year saw a key step in the coming deprecation of third-party cookies, which have been one of marketers’ most powerful tools for tracking online activity for many years. A small group ( 1% ) of Google Chrome users are now eligible for Tracking Protection , which restricts the use of these cookies by default.

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Consumer Marketing Planning ATS 306

Inside Retail

JANUARY 3, 2024

Europe-based home furnishing chain Habitat has shut down all of its operations, just a month after collapsing into receivership. The company’s trustees have initiated a final liquidation due to the lack of cash flow and a recovery plan. As a result, all of the chain’s 25 stores in France will close and 383 employees will lose their jobs. The fate of five other shops in Barcelona, Geneva, Madrid, Milan and Zurich is unclear.

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Home Furnishings Supermarket Planning Shopping 264

Advertiser: Experience Retail Today

I’m getting in touch with the news that fashion retailer, Gina Trictot, has achieved 98% inventory accuracy thanks to its partnership with SML RFID. Please see the full press release below, including exclusive quotes.

Fashion

Retail Wire

JANUARY 5, 2024

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.'s stock is plummeting. The company's shares marked a record low yet again this Thursday, closing at a meager $5.30, down by 5%. This makes it the fourth day in a row of losses for the movie theater chain.

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ATS 264

Retail Dive

JANUARY 4, 2024

In a deal with a group of investors, the balloon manufacturer will operate as an independent company and continue supplying Party City.

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Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 2, 2024

Costco workers in Norfolk, Va. have voted to join the Teamsters Local 822, with the union calling this its first organizing victory at the wholesale retailer in two decades. The 238 -worker group will join more than 18,000 Teamsters at Costco nationwide. Successful unionization efforts in the retail industry have been relatively rare, but they may pick up steam this year following a strong year for labor in 2023, with successful strikes by the United Auto Workers against the Big Three carmakers

Wholesale 299

Wholesale ATS Store Operations 299

Inside Retail

JANUARY 2, 2024

The Body Shop has earned the title of being the first global beauty brand offering 100 per cent vegan product formulations certified by The Vegan Society. Back in 2021, just 60 per cent of the cosmetic brand’s products already carried the Vegan Society trademark. The retailer has been campaigning against animal testing in the cosmetics industry since 1989. “We were the first beauty company to fight against animal testing in cosmetics.

Shopping 260

Shopping 260

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Customer Experience

Retail Wire

JANUARY 4, 2024

Apple is settling a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of allowing fraudsters to exploit its iTunes gift cards and pocket a portion of the stolen funds.

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Retail Gazette

JANUARY 3, 2024

Sainsbury’s has been named as the big winner over Christmas as grocery sales surpassed the £13bn mark in December for the first time. The supermarket chain saw its sales jump 9.3% in the four weeks to 24 December, achieving its highest market share since December 2020 at 15.8%, according to analysts at Kantar. Consumers spent £13.7bn in the run-up to Christmas, the research noted, with average household spending up 6% to £477 across the month.

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Supermarket Accounting Promotions Consumer 126

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 1, 2024

With retail crime rising across the United States, many retailers are frustrated by the challenge of curbing the effects of organized and ad-hoc theft. As a result, they’re ramping up their use of physical and visual deterrents — often in the form of locked cases — in the hopes that hardening targets will remedy the issue. It’s a natural response, and it’s guided by sound logic.

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Loss Prevention Checkout Point of Sale Location 291

Inside Retail

JANUARY 4, 2024

This year the Australian government is introducing a series of measures to restrict the availability of vapes, starting today. The new reforms address loopholes in the current laws that allow easy access to highly addictive, flavoured, cheap, and harmful vaping products that are marketed to kids. Vaping products will still be available through a prescription for anyone using them to quit smoking.

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Advertising Management Consumer Marketing 246

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Marketing

Retail Wire

JANUARY 4, 2024

SpaceX, the renowned rocket and satellite manufacturer, is under scrutiny as a U.S. labor agency accuses it of illegally terminating eight employees.

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Retail Gazette

JANUARY 3, 2024

The Body Shop has become the first global beauty brand to achieve 100% vegan product formulations across all lines. The beauty retailer has had its ranges – skincare, body care, haircare, makeup and fragrance – certified by The Vegan Society as 100% vegan just two years after it set itself the target. To celebrate the accreditation, The Body Shop has launched its ‘ Not Yes!

Shopping 126

Shopping 126

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 2, 2024

Nike has laid out a plan to cut up to $2 billion in costs over the next three years in a bid to “accelerate future growth while building a faster, more efficient” organization, executives shared during the company’s fiscal 2024 Q2 earnings call. The company plans to trim expenses in ways including simplifying its product assortment , increasing automation and use of technology , and leveraging its scale to drive greater efficiencies across the business, although no details on the form these init

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Planning Wholesale Promotions Management 289

Inside Retail

JANUARY 3, 2024

The 2024 Australian Open is gearing up to serve a fashion-forward Grand Slam by partnering with sportswear giants, high-fashion brands and luxury labels. This year’s Australian Open will be sponsored by the likes of Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, New Balance and Rolex – positioning tennis as a rival with the races for sport’s most fashion-forward event.

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Fashion Apparel Advertising Marketing 246

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2025 is right around the corner, and with it comes a new wave of consumer expectations, competitive pressures, and operational challenges. Success lies in finding the balance between operational flexibility and creating experiences that keep customers coming back. The future of retail belongs to those who can stay ahead of shifting customer preferences and marketing trends. 🔮 In this session, we’ll dive deep into what it takes to keep customers engaged and your operations nimble, no matt

Customer Experience