Inventory

Total spending for K-12 and college is expected to reach $83.6 billion, up from last year’s $75.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual back-to-school spending survey, conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics. Here’s how the spending breaks down: Families with children in elementary school through high school plan to spend an average of $687.72 each, for…

Target Corp. is making some changes to the brands it sells. The retailer is beginning to phase out both the Merona and Mossimo clothing lines and, at the same time, introducing four new brands that can’t be found on competing online stores: Goodfellow & Co.: Menswear line, replacing Mossimo A New Day: the new “modern…

The industry has been talking about RFID for 20 years, but it still hasn't come into common use or delivered significant value to retailers. The biggest issue hasn't been the technology itself, but rather the hype and promise around RFID before it was in the right place to deliver. The price of RFID tags has…

In episode 82 of Total Retail Talks, Scott Hansen, general manager, supply chain and logistics at Nebraska Furniture Mart, the largest home furnishing store in North America, discusses how the company has benefited from implementing an integrated supply chain for its online and brick-and-mortar operations.

Despite retailers’ heavy spending on value-added services and personalization, shoppers say they see little return on the investments, according to a new survey from Cognizant and Forrester Consulting. In the online poll of 4,500 smartphone-owning shoppers, only 35 percent on average make use of in-store services such as interactive displays and mobile checkout. Personalization receives…

In episode 69 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at this week's National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City, Total Retail's Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Lisa Gavales, president and CEO of Things Remembered. Gavales discusses what innovation means for the personalized gifts retailer, how testing influences Things Remembered's product selection — both in-store…

Retailers collect a massive amount of data every day. That data gets turned into reports, which are distributed throughout different branches of the company, including store associates. However, do those store associates know what to do with all the reports sent to them? Most of the time the answer is “no.” In the session “Prescriptive…

With Black Friday in two days, the holiday season fast approaching and e-commerce exploding around the globe, opportunities for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) in the retail industry are skyrocketing — and the rules of the game are changing. Cloud-based e-commerce and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications are lowering the barrier to entry, while mobile technology is…

Consumers have options, and they know it. Brands need an intelligent order management system to fulfill orders profitably.

As the U.S. presidential election comes to an end, consumers are turning their attention to the rapidly approaching holiday shopping season. Typically, Americans tend to start preparations well before the December rush, and even before the traditional Thanksgiving week start to the season. According to The NPD Group’s Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey, in 2015, “half of…