Store Associates

For better or worse, e-commerce has truly transformed the traditional shopping experience at brick-and-mortar retail locations. Customers visiting a physical store have greater expectations for a product to be in stock and priced competitively with similar retailers or online shopping outlets such as Amazon.com. They expect stellar customer service, because it would be even easier, if not more convenient,…

REI will keep its stores closed on the day after Thanksgiving for the second straight year, even though it's one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It will also again pay employees for the day off in a campaign that encourages people to spend time outdoors. Online shoppers can put items in their cart,…

Macy's has reaffirmed its commitment to Thanksgiving Day shopping, announcing yesterday that it will open its stores an hour earlier this year. The retailer plans to open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, with most Macy's stores closing at 2 a.m., and then reopening at 6 a.m. Friday. Macy's cited "ongoing customer interest in shopping on Thanksgiving"…

Wal-Mart is giving its managers pay raises ahead of the new federal overtime wage mandate. The retailer raised the starting salary for various managers from $45,000 to $48,500 at the start of September. The Department of Labor rule, set to go into effect on Dec. 1, raises the top salary threshold under which executive, administrative and professional…

J.C. Penney has started stationing greeters at the entrances of its stores, The New York Post has learned. Penney’s greeters are already full-time employees who are being redeployed to front-of-the-store duty for just two hours of their shift. The use of greeters is said to be a test and is being deployed just in the Northeast region,…

America’s largest mall has made the decision to close on Thanksgiving. The Mall of America alerted its 1,200 employees earlier this week that it will close on the holiday. However, the 520 stores within the mall will still have the option to remain open on Turkey Day, though mall executives believe most will follow suit.…

Merchants were once the only critical players in the retail industry. Their ability to drive the business by understanding the customer and predicting customer behavior made them invaluable to their organizations. However, now that “omnichannel” retailing is the new reality, the merchant’s role is rapidly changing. A merchant must now also be able to absorb enhanced analytics and work even more closely with design and marketing applications to understand and adapt to trends that satisfy quickly changing customer tastes.

Twenty-one states and a coalition of business and industry groups filed separate federal lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and the top Wage and Hour Administrator, David Weil, to try to block the federal overtime regulation changes. The changes are set to go into effect on Dec. 1,…

Lowe's is about to debut its latest addition to its store associate team. This fall, the home improvement retailer will introduce LoweBot, a NAVii autonomous retail service robot. LoweBot make its debut in 11 stores throughout the San Francisco Bay area. According to CNBC, "the robots, made by Fellow Robots, use a 3-D scanner to…

Sears Holdings Chief Executive Eddie Lampert is freaking out his employees. The CEO has started moving Kmart stockroom merchandise onto the sales floor. The move, according to the company, is aimed at freeing up employees to assist shoppers, making sure they “[do] not wait in line at the checkout,” reported the New York Post. But…