Retail Stores

Waiting in line has been called a “timeless form of torture.” In the U.S. alone, Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year queuing. And the problem of waiting has only gotten worse. Restarting life as we knew it has proven more challenging than we initially anticipated. Supply chain issues and staffing shortages have thwarted…

Kohl’s announced that it's introducing Discover @ Kohl’s, a new in-store and online experience designed to embrace inclusivity and bring discovery and inspiration to every store trip and online visit. Discover @ Kohl’s features seasonal areas throughout 600 of the retailer's stores and website that curate “dozens of emerging, established, and diverse-owned brands that are…

Doug Herrington has been appointed to lead Amazon.com's retail sector, the e-commerce giant announced Tuesday. Herrington, a 17-year Amazon employee who previously led the company's North American consumer business, will be tasked with dealing with the effects of rising costs, a slowdown in demand, and excess warehouse space. He replaces Dave Clark, who announced his…

Consumers aren't just shoppers; they're guests who explore, discover, immerse and buy. This alone demonstrates the disconnect between the guest experience vs. the customer retail shopping experience which uses vocabulary such as filter, select and purchase. Hospitality is designed to entertain and cater to guests' needs, comfort, satisfaction and loyalty. From the very start of…

Employees at a Baltimore-area Apple store have voted to unionize, making it the first of Apple's 270-plus stores in the U.S. to join a union. In the election, 65 employees at Apple’s store in Towson, Md., voted in favor of being represented by the union, known as the Apple Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (CORE),…

Retail sales were down in May compared to the month before, suggesting continuing inflation and higher prices for essentials has been a growing concern to the American consumer. It's the first drop in retail sales in five months. The U.S. Census Bureau, in its monthly estimates report released Wednesday, said U.S. retail and food services…

David Simon, CEO of Simon Property Group, the biggest shopping mall owner in the country, wants to create a new type of annual shopping extravaganza, reports CNBC. The event, dubbed “National Outlet Shopping Day,” is meant for people seeking out deep discounts and is being created as consumers are increasingly feeling the pinch of inflation just about everywhere they go.…

Reaching your target consumers is a challenge. Shifting consumer behavioral patterns and new shopping channels have complicated how marketers and brands approach shoppers. And while e-commerce has taken a big bite out of in-store sales and partnered with the pandemic to fuel headlines about a “retail apocalypse,” shoppers still walk, in vast numbers, into physical…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Melissa Wong, CEO and co-founder of Zipline, the platform enabling best-in-class communication strategies throughout retail organizations. Wong discusses why her background in the retail industry led her to start a technology company (0:54) and why Zipline recently partnered with Total Retail to produce…

The department store Belk is collaborating with the home goods and furniture retailer Conn's HomePlus to launch a store-within-a-store concept later this year. The new store format, which will launch under a new brand name soon to be announced, will give Belk customers access to Conn's home product categories, including furniture, home electronics and appliances, and…