Today on Total Retail

Outdoor apparel brand Patagonia has filed a lawsuit against Nordstrom for allegedly selling “thousands” of counterfeit Patagonia items. The complaint, filed with a California federal court, states that the counterfeit items are being sold in Nordstrom Rack stores, The Fashion Law reports. Nordstrom was previously an authorized Patagonia dealer for many years, but no longer has that authorization. Patagonia…

Saks, the premier digital platform for luxury fashion, recently announced that it has extended its partnership with Lightspeed Commerce, a one-stop commerce platform for merchants to simplify, scale and create exceptional customer experiences. The platform has helped Saks streamline previously manual processes, slashing time spent on order creation by 50 percent and reducing time spent on purchase…

Whether online shopping or trying to get answers about an insurance billing question, customers have likely gotten assistance from a new source: artificial intelligence (AI). One study showed that 88 percent of customers had an interaction with a chatbot in 2022, with an estimated 1.5 billion people using chatbots around the world. With the global…

Consumers and businesses are both being impacted by ongoing inflation. Retailers must change their tactics in the current economic environment. They must understand the trends that have developed as a result of this inflationary environment in order to respond. In this post, I'll look at three tactics retailers may use to weather the current economic…

“Marketplace” is a bit of a buzzword in the e-commerce space at the moment, and it’s not hard to see why. One-third of all U.S. business now flows through e-commerce, and 63 percent of that is through marketplaces. Marketplaces aren't necessarily replacing traditional commerce channels like brick-and-mortar stores, or even websites. Instead, they’ve expanded how retailers connect…

For the last decade, the retail industry has been on an existential search for the future of its own soul. Consumers armed with smartphones increasingly turned to browse-and-buy shopping from virtually anywhere, flipping the nature of retail on its head. Meanwhile, traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have struggled to find effective ways to keep pace with digital…

Walgreens Boots Alliance is set to lay off about 500 employees, or 10 percent of its corporate workforce, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week. Spokesperson Marty Maloney confirmed the layoffs to the news outlet, saying most of the cuts will be at the company's Deerfield, Ill. headquarters or Chicago office. In a letter obtained by…

Consumers are posing an ultimatum to fashion and apparel brands: Start taking sustainability seriously or they’ll shop elsewhere. A new study of UK consumers found that 81 percent intend to boycott apparel brands that don’t prioritize sustainability within the next two years. These consumers are part of a clear global trend: Growing swaths of consumers…

A growing number of brands are sold via buy now, pay later (BNPL) models. And, thanks to inflation and continually increasing living costs, consumers are motivated to use BNPL options for online and in-person purchases alike. It’s estimated that 60 percent of shoppers have tried BNPL services at least once. By 2027, there are expected to be 900 million…

Today’s uncertain economic landscape is plagued with high inflation and continued supply chain issues, and experts predict a 70 percent likelihood of a U.S. recession in 2023. With a potential downturn on the horizon, a reported 62 percent of consumers have stated they're cutting back on their spending or looking for additional ways to save.…