In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss Total Retail’s recently released report, 50 Best Retail Tips of 2019. To create this resource, Total Retail's team pored over every piece of content published on its website in 2019 to identify the 50 very best tips of the year.…
Kristina Stidham
Starbucks announced Tuesday an ambitious plan to cut its waste, water use and carbon emissions in half by 2030, reports The Seattle Times. The coffee giant's CEO and President Kevin Johnson revealed that the new sustainability initiatives would have five main goals: add more menu items that are “plant-based”; shift from single-use to reusable packaging; invest in new…
In this week’s Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss the top trends to emerge from the 2020 National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City. Here are three trends we heard frequently over the three-day event: the need for retailers to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives; an increased focus…
Amazon.com has lifted its ban on FedEx Ground delivery for its third-party sellers, resuming service on Tuesday, reports CNBC. The e-commerce giant temporarily suspended FedEx's Ground delivery for Prime shipments last month, citing poor delivery performance, which caught many of its sellers off guard during the busy holiday season. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that…
As the grocery market becomes more digital and customer expectations rise, grocers like Northgate Market need to implement new technology to stay competitive. In this interview conducted at the 2020 National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City this week, Total Retail's Joe Keenan speaks with Harrison Lewis, chief information and privacy officer at Northgate Market,…
Laura Joukovski, president, global fashion brands at TechStyle Fashion Group, parent company of Fabletics, Savage X Fenty, JustFab, ShoeDazzle, and FabKids, detailed the company's approach to customer retention during an interview with Total Retail's Joe Keenan this week at the 2020 National Retail Federation Big Show. Joukovski discussed how TechStyle is working to evolve and stay…
Yesterday at the 2020 National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City, Total Retail's Joe Keenan sat down for an interview with Jennifer Williams, vice president, retail services at Perry Ellis International. Williams discusses Perry Ellis' Life Ready application, its initial rollout in wholesale partner Dillard's stores over the past year, and the brand's partnerships with…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the forecast for social media in 2020, with a specific focus on the trends that will have the biggest impact on retail businesses. Earlier this week, Total Retail published an article by Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO of AI-powered social media and digital…
Macy's announced Wednesday its plans to close 29 stores in the coming weeks, reports The Washington Post. The closures include 28 Macy's department stores and one Bloomingdale's location, following a reported 0.6 percent decline in same-store sales during the holiday season. That compares with the 1.1 percent growth recorded during November and December last year. Macy's…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss how grocery store Kroger and drug store chain Walgreens are teaming up in an effort to cut supplier costs by buying merchandise together. The two companies are calling their partnership the Retail Procurement Alliance, and plan to identify an overlap in products…
Bed Bath & Beyond announced the departure of six senior executives from the company on Tuesday, reports CNBC. The extensive change in leadership is the first major move by the retailer's new CEO, Mark Tritton, who is known for his successful run leading merchandising at Target. Tritton joined Bed Bath & Beyond in early November.…
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss the resignation of luggage brand Away’s CEO, Steph Korey, amid allegations of employee mistreatment. We analyze the critical role leadership plays in a company’s success, and present a few takeaways that retailers can learn from the Away incident. First, be open…
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…
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…
