Today on Total Retail

For two decades as the CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne has never been far from controversy. He posted elaborate theories on his personal website, railed against an unnamed Wall Street figure he named the Sith Lord and then, last week, delivered the most eyebrow-lifting tale of all. Byrne — operating on the advice, he said,…

In a panel discussion at eTail East in Boston this week, a panel of retail executives discussed how their companies are creating authentic brand experiences for their customers. John Lacy, co-CEO, Burton; Sherill Kaplan, head of marketing, Zipcar; Catherine Lewenberg, vice president, digital and omnichannel, CVS Health; and Joe Megibow, CEO, Purple, detailed how consistent…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Kristina Stidham and Ashley Chiaradio discuss the back-to-school shopping season, including a few tips for retailers from an article recently published in Total Retail Report, titled “Back-to-School a Big Opportunity for Retailers to Impress,” written by Keith Jelinek and Rick Maicki of the Berkeley Research Group.…

For decades, Americans headed to malls to take care of all of their back-to-school (BTS) shopping needs. And many still do — 56 percent of consumers rely on department stores to buy school clothes and supplies during this nearly $53 billion season. However, in this BTS season and in the years to come, retailers need to focus…

Customer experience is quickly becoming the brand differentiator, and there’s no customer experience game-changer potentially bigger than artificial intelligence (AI). In a recent market analysis from UBS, retail ranked among the top industries predicted to be most impacted by AI. It's easy to see why. While online giants like Amazon.com and online disruptors such as…

L.L.Bean is an iconic 100-plus year-old retail brand. With that comes inherent benefits, including strong brand awareness and consumer trust. However, that legacy also comes with its challenges. Namely, keeping a 107-year-old brand relevant is a dynamic challenge. Consumer behavior is shifting and brands must be able to keep up with those changes, whether it's…

Walmart is suing Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and clean energy company, after its solar panels atop seven Walmart stores allegedly caught on fire, CNBC reported. The lawsuit, which details evacuations, damaged property and inventory, claims breach of contract, gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards. Walmart is asking Tesla to remove its solar panels from…

New advancements in technology are changing the retail industry in unprecedented ways, further blending the physical and digital worlds and forever evolving customer experience. As the industry changes, so do the methods cybercriminals use to steal sensitive data from companies and consumers. Prior to 2018, cybersecurity data suggested that the most common type of incident…

No retailer deliberately sets out to complicate the lives and shopping experiences of its customers. In fact, headlines point to ways the industry is doing the opposite, adding convenient fulfillment options or altering store formats to accommodate quicker in-and-out trips. However, if as many as 17 percent of items in a category are duplicative in…

The back-to-school (BTS) shopping season is well underway, with total retail sales projected to reach a whopping $27.8 billion. However, despite claims that Amazon.com is destroying retail, more than half of U.S. consumers are planning to shop for supplies in-store instead of online this year. So, what does this mean for brick-and-mortar retailers? The BTS…