A Colombian government agency is threatening to sue Walmart over a Christmas sweater depicting Santa Claus with what appeared to be three lines of cocaine, reports Business Insider. The now-removed sweater's product description tied the merchandise to Colombia, saying, "the best snow comes straight from South America" and "Santa really likes to savor the moment…
Kristina Stidham
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Ashley Chiaradio and Kristina Stidham discuss key strategies retailers need to implement now in order to provide the seamless shopping experiences consumers expect this holiday season. These tips are mentioned in a recent article titled, 10 Ways for Retailers to Survive Another Holiday Season, authored by…
A record 189.6 million U.S. consumers shopped from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, an increase of 14 percent over last year’s 165.8 million, reports the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The survey found that 124 million people shopped in stores while 142.2 million shopped on retailers’ websites; 75.7 million did both. Black Friday…
Toys R Us is set to open its first two new stores this holiday season, reports CNBC. The re-imagined storefronts signal the iconic toy brand's return to brick-and-mortar retail after the company liquidated last year and closed all of its stores. The first of the two smaller-format, permanent Toys R Us stores debuts Saturday at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss Nike's decision to stop selling its merchandise on Amazon.com as part of its push to grow its direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) business. This will allow the sportswear retailer to have full control of the brand experience by selling D-to-C, full access to…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss Shoptalk’s announcement that its 2020 conference will feature an all-women speaker lineup for both track sessions and main stage keynotes. This is a groundbreaking move that's the first of its kind for a retail event, as conferences traditionally struggle to…
Nike will stop selling merchandise directly to Amazon.com as part of its push to sell more directly to consumers, reports CNBC. The athletic apparel and footwear retailer will end the pilot program it started with Amazon in 2017, in which Nike agreed to sell a limited product assortment to Amazon in exchange for stricter policing of counterfeits and restrictions…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss next week's Singles Day, the online shopping holiday created by Chinese e-commerce retail giant Alibaba, which will takes place every year on Nov. 11. This massive global shopping event — it's twice as large as the five-day Black Friday/Cyber Monday…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss three ways that data privacy will impact the retail industry’s future, as published in a recent article titled “How Data Privacy Will Reshape the Future of E-Commerce” by contributing author Chemi Katz. The first thing that will be impacted is…
Bed Bath & Beyond announced yesterday that it has been affected by a data breach, reports Fox Business. The home goods retailer disclosed in a SEC filing that email addresses and passwords from roughly 1 percent of its online customers’ accounts were accessed by an outside, unauthorized source. Payment card information was reportedly not affected,…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the rebirth of Toys"R"Us, including the news earlier this month that its e-commerce website will be powered by Target. For the toy category, the re-emergence of Toys"R"Us, both online and offline, brings another competitor with a strong, iconic brand name…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Ashley Chiaradio and Kristina Stidham discuss must-have elements for your e-commerce homepage, as written in a recent article titled, “4 Things Your E-Commerce Homepage is Missing,” written by business consultant Larry Alton. The first thing you must have on your homepage is a simple search bar.…
The Children’s Place announced Tuesday a plan to relaunch children's clothing brand Gymboree in 2020, reports CNBC. In a press release, The Children's Place announced Gymboree merchandise will be sold on an enhanced website, Gymboree.com, as well as in shop-in-shop locations in over 200 select The Children’s Place stores in the U.S. and Canada. The Children’s…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss Amazon.com’s plan to open a grocery store concept, one that will be separate from its Whole Foods subsidiary. Amazon will reportedly be testing the grocery store chain in three markets, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, potentially as early as the…
Today's retailers are burdened with the need to stay on top of consumer preferences, emerging technology, modern customer journeys, innovations in the retail experience, and much more. Retailers also need to be able to trust their technology providers and third-party vendors to keep ahead of the biggest trends affecting the industry, while also providing actionable…
