Nordstrom

Nordstrom is taking its vaunted customer service to the next level: The company will roll out mobile checkout devices to its stores nationwide by the start of its anniversary sale in July. The retailer, which has tried a variety of different devices, is currently testing the iPod Touch in its downtown Seattle and Bellevue Square stores. 

Fits.me is a virtual fitting room for online clothing retailers. Fits.me is different from other virtual fitting rooms in that it doesn't require a webcam. All it needs is your measurements. Don't know your measurements?

Consumers spent more on retail goods in the first quarter than they did during the same time last year. That's despite higher gas prices, bad weather and a late Easter holiday.

Last month, retail giant Nordstrom scooped up HauteLook faster than a savvy shopper will snap up a $425 pair of Tom Ford sunglasses discounted to $129. The luxury chain’s purchase of downtown L.A.’s HauteLook for $180 million in stock reflects the growing popularity of “flash sale” websites like HauteLook. It’s the first time ever that a brick-and-mortar retailer has acquired a flash-sale site company, showing the importance of such sites as traditional retailers look to tap into the $176 billion U.S. online shopping industry.

The top February same-store sales gains should come from warehouse club operator Costco and Saks, with estimated increases of 7.3 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively. 

Black Friday is known as the official start of the holiday shopping season. Presidents Day also marks a retail landmark, albeit a less-known one: the start of the secondary sales.

Nordstrom announced it's entered into an agreement to acquire HauteLook. Nordstrom said the acquisition will enable it to participate in the fast-growing private sale marketplace and provide a platform to increase innovation and speed in the way it serves customers in all channels.

In order to grow revenue and gain new customers, small and emerging merchants are increasingly noticing the importance of becoming multichannel retailers. Blake Nordstrom, president of upscale department store chain Nordstrom, discussed customers' evolving role in shaping the future of multichannel retailing.

VibrantNation.com is the leading online community for baby boomer women, a site where they connect on issues unique to their stage of life. After more than two years of asking them to explain what that lifestage means, I can report one nearly uniform emotion they all share: they hate shopping in retail stores.

In a survey of 9,200 shoppers, Zappos.com took top honors in the sixth annual NRF Foundation/American Express Customers’ Choice survey, conducted by BIGresearch. The results were announced at the Annual Retail Industry Luncheon during the National Retail Federation’s BIG Show in New York City.