Macy's

Imagine spilling coffee on your way to a holiday party and needing a new shirt right away. Macy's has a solution: A quick Google search on your smartphone will tell you if that red sweater is stocked at a Macy's nearby, in your size, and at what price. Beginning in November, shoppers can search for an item on their phone and see what's stocked at their nearest Macy's location. Alongside the images are product details like price, size and color, directions to the store, and a link to the item on the retailer's website. 

The Black Friday fight is on with the announcement Tuesday that Macy's will open stores at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than last year. Macy's is the first major retailer to announce store hours for the Black Friday weekend, often seen as the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Last year marked the first time the department store opened its doors at 8 p.m., after opening at midnight in the several years before. The company said the earlier opening is "in response to the significant, sustained customer interest in last year's opening on Thanksgiving." 

Macy's plans to hire about 86,000 seasonal holiday workers nationwide to bolster its stores, call centers and distribution hubs. That number represents a 3.6 percent increase from a year ago. The department store chain, which also operates Bloomingdale's, said Monday that the

They compete tooth and nail to draw customers to their Midtown flagship stores, but Macy's and J.C. Penney are teaming up to block the thievery of organized crooks. The rivals have joined more than 100 companies and the NYPD to form an alliance that will be known as the Metropolitan Organized Retail Crime Alliance. Its objective is to improve retail stores’ security efforts by sharing intelligence on crews of bandits, scams and ripoffs. Target, Home Depot and Rite Aid have also signed up for the crime-busting venture. Computer giant Apple is poised to jump onboard soon, sources said.

Macy's is launching a large number of omnichannel strategies and technologies encompassing stores, online and mobile. In addition to supporting the new Apple Pay mobile payment system, the department store retailer's new moves include piloting same-day delivery, testing new point-of-sale technology and customer service enhancements, and expanding its use of RFID to fashion categories. "Our goal remains to help our customers shop whenever, wherever and however they prefer, and to use the entire inventory of the company to satisfy demand," said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and CEO, Macy's.

Three retailers have been named "geniuses," and it may not be who you expected (well, at least one of the companies). L2, a business benchmarking service, awarded Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears "genius status," the highest honor of a five-tiered ranking system in its recent Digital IQ Index: Department Stores. Macy's and Nordstrom have been ranked highly in the past, however, I have to admit, I was surprised to see ailing retailer Sears join them at the top of the list. Over the last few months, we've heard reports of Sears closing multiple storefronts as well as management issues. Just this past week it was reported that the company probably won't last past the 2016 fiscal year. So how did Sears earn the title of "genius"?

While retailers are diving headfirst into mobile payments, consumers appear to be a bit more hesitant. Usage of digital wallets remains at less than one-third, even though a surprisingly high number of U.S. consumers — 80 percent — recognize the technology as an alternative to cash-based transactions, according to a survey of more than 2,000 smartphone, tablet and desktop users from local search and digital marketing research firm Thrive Analytics.

Macy's is exploring opening its first-ever department store in China, according to trade publication Women's Wear Daily. Chief Executive Terry Lundgren and other top executives have made several recent flights to China and may be close to signing a deal, said the trade publication citing unnamed sources. The retailer could open a full-blown Macy's or Bloomingdale's department store or possibly a specialty store selling private brand merchandise. If it opened a Bloomingdale's, it would be only the second such international store — the first is in Dubai.

It may seem like summer just got here, but for the nation's largest retailers, the fierce fight for back-to-school (BTS) bucks is already on. J.C. Penney has announced a new marketing campaign aimed at sparking self-expression in teenagers’ wardrobes. Macy's, too, is beating the drum for its apparel, including a fashion link with Teen Vogue. And Sears has just announced its new Seventeen magazine clothing line, rolling out in stores and online. 

J.C. Penney appealed a New York state court ruling Monday that found it had interfered with a contract between Macy's and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia by selling the celebrity's home goods, according to a filing. J.C. Penney's lawyer Martin Edel confirmed the case had been appealed but declined to comment. Retail spokesmen at each company weren't immediately available for comment. Macy's sued J.C. Penney in 2012 for breaching a deal that guaranteed exclusive rights to sell cookware, bedding and bath products from Martha Stewart Living.