Pier 1 Imports interim CEO Cheryl Bachelder is reorganizing the home furnishings retailer's corporate staff in Fort Worth, Texas to cut costs, "better align its operations with its long-term strategy" and become more agile. It's not clear how many are losing jobs in the reorganization or how many remain in the Fort Worth office, which…
Joe Keenan
Kum & Go is a 24/7 convenience store chain that operates 400-plus locations in the Midwest. Like many convenience store businesses that are open around the clock, Kum & Go was challenged with staffing issues. In particular, store general managers were being forced to pick up uncovered shifts when employees called out and didn't have…
PHILADELPHIA, [March 20, 2019] -- Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC), a members-only association for enterprise-level women at top retailers and brands, is proud to announce the release of its ninth annual list of the leading female executives in retail. Honorees were chosen based on a number of criteria, including being in a top-level position within a retail…
As part of the 2018 Merchant Gift Card E-Commerce Evaluation, a comprehensive report produced by digital gift card solutions provider CashStar, in partnership with NAPCO Research (NAPCO Research and Total Retail both are brands of parent company NAPCO Media), a cross-platform evaluation was done to assess 100 leading brands on more than 100 unique criteria, including the…
Facebook’s Instagram photo-sharing app has become a hotspot for brands, and a hotspot for consumers who want a digital window shopping experience. Today, Instagram sweetened the deal by adding a checkout feature to the app so users can buy stuff they see in their feed without ever having to leave Instagram. And Instagram will be able…
Rite Aid said on Tuesday its CEO would exit as part of a revamp of its leadership, and that it would cut about 400 corporate positions. Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid said the layoffs will affect more than 20 percent of corporate positions located at the company’s headquarters and across field operations. The company expects annual…
Ross Stores will be opening 100 new store locations in 2019. So far this year, the Dublin, Calif. off-price department store chain has opened 22 Ross Dress for Less and six dd's Discounts stores across 12 different states. The new locations are part a company plan to add approximately 100 new stores, 75 Ross and 25 dd's…
In episode 186 of Total Retail Talks, Total Retail Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Carolyn Littlefield, senior director of e-commerce at Anheuser-Busch InBev. Listen in as they discuss the steps AB InBev is taking to grow its digital business, including the role content plays in that initiative. This episode was recorded live at Groceryshop in…
In a keynote presentation earlier this week at Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Art Peck, president and CEO of Gap Inc., detailed four key areas that retailers must not be willing to compromise in order to continually meet rising customer expectations and drive profitable growth. Coincidentally, Peck was on stage a mere four days after Gap…
Charlotte Russe will close all of its stores over the next two months. The women's clothing company joins a growing group of retailers that couldn't survive bankruptcy. The company didn't want to shut down. It filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago and announced plans to close only 94 of its 512 stores nationwide. The goal was…
While at Shoptalk 2019 in Las Vegas this week, Total Retail's Joe Keenan interviewed Brendan Witcher, vice president and principal analyst of digital business strategy at Forrester Research. In the wide-ranging interview, Witcher offered his thoughts on the vibe from attendees at the show, the state of brick-and-mortar retail, the retail technologies he's bullish on for…
In an interview yesterday at Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Michael Martin, vice president of digital products at Nike, discussed how the athletic footwear, apparel and accessories brand is using innovative digital products, platforms and technologies to create new opportunities to serve existing customers and attract new ones across all of its sales channels. Martin was…
In a keynote presentation yesterday at Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Helena Foulkes, CEO, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), parent of Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue, discussed how the retail organization planned to evolve from within to create radical change to the customer experience (CX) for all of its brands. Foulkes outlined four…
Office Depot is teaming up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, as both companies hope to benefit from the other's strengths to win over American small business owners. On Monday, Office Depot and Alibaba.com announced a partnership aimed at American small and midsized businesses, tapping into the B-to-B market in the U.S. The two companies are…
In an opening keynote session at Shoptalk in Las Vegas yesterday, Erik Nordstrom, co-president of Nordstrom, was interviewed by Courtney Reagan, a retail reporter for CNBC. The discussion touched on a variety of topics, from the future of department stores to omnichannel innovation to redefining the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Erik Nordstrom also commented on the…
