Today on Total Retail

J.C. Penney confirmed that it stopped accepting Apple Pay in connection with an April 13 deadline that required merchants to retire old magnetic stripe functionality. The retailer decided to stop accepting the mobile wallet after a deadline from a third-party credit card brand, which the retailer declined to name, requiring merchants to accept EMV contactless…

Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC), sister brand of Total Retail, recently released its ninth annual list of the Top Women in Retail. This annual feature, a joint effort of Total Retail and WIRLC, shines a spotlight on the innovative female minds leading some of the top retail organizations and brands in the industry today. As part of…

Recently I was in the cereal aisle of my local Whole Foods. I looked up and noticed that everyone around me was grocery shopping for Amazon Fresh and Instacart customers — i.e., shoppers who had placed their orders digitally rather than visiting the store themselves. We've all personally experienced how digital transformation is bridging the…

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to retail organizations to hear that consumer purchasing habits have drastically changed. With the majority of growth happening online, traditional brick-and-mortar stores are challenged with establishing an online presence, transforming their business model, and harnessing the power of innovative technologies. We’ve seen brick-and-mortar stores struggle to adapt to the…

Over the last several years, brick-and-mortar retailers have been scrambling to combat declining revenues, decreasing footfall and falling customer loyalty in the face of increasing encroachment by the likes of online retail giants such as Amazon.com. Something has changed, however. After years of locking horns with digital-first insurgents, traditional retailers have changed tact, embracing Amazon…

In episode 192 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Melissa Campanelli interviews Stephanie Maes, vice president of retail performance at AdoreMe, and Keith Sherry, CEO at StoreAdvise. Listen in as they discuss how AdoreMe and StoreAdvise work together to bring smart fitting room technology to the retailer's stores, and how data from RFID technology has improved…

Bed Bath & Beyond today announced that in response to shareholder feedback it will transform its current board of directors. The board will now comprise 10 directors (as opposed to 12), nine of whom are independent and six of whom are women. Five current independent directors will step down.The transformed board will reflect significant diversity across…

When shoppers encounter a retailer that doesn’t accept their preferred payment method, 55 percent will spend less or go elsewhere according to a recent study by Adyen. Yet, payment preferences can involve an array of layered factors. Payment options should go beyond offering credit card or cash to allow shoppers to finance purchases, especially higher-priced…

Between rapid technology evolution’s effect on sales and smaller businesses stuck hiding behind the shadows of e-commerce giants, retailers are grappling with a great deal of uncertainty. Even in the best of retail sales and revenue growth, product returns are expected to have accounted for 30 percent of the 2018 retail economy — an estimated $37 billion. So,…

Sears on Thursday filed a lawsuit against its former CEO Eddie Lampert and a number of its high-profile past board members, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, for allegedly stealing billions of dollars from the retailer. Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy this past October, after years of losses under Lampert, who was then its chairman, CEO and largest shareholder.…