Listen in as these movers and shakers discuss their digital retail startups and how they’ve broken through the boundaries of tradition.
Learn best practices for omnichannel integration and how live video can bring the in-store experience to e-commerce channels.
Hear a study in short-term versus long-term marketplaces strategies and how one company has made it a driving force for their sales.
Sears partnered with mall owner Macerich Co., the latest step in the retailer’s efforts to wring more money from its real estate.
Retail Online Integration is excited to present its fifth annual list of the 100 fastest-growing omnichannel retail companies. To compile this year's list, we researched net sales figures for all of the public retail companies in the United States (and a select few headquartered in Canada that have a significant presence in the U.S.).
Apple just revealed a huge boost for its mobile payment offerings from retailer Best Buy. On an earnings conference call late Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Best Buy would begin accepting payments via Apple Pay on Best Buy's iPhone app now, and in Best Buy's physical stores later in the year. Apple Pay, the service that lets folks pay for goods with the iPhone or the new Apple Watch, has struggled to add high-profile retailers since its launch in September with Whole Foods, McDonald's, Subway, Panera Bread and others.
For retailers, it's no longer as easy as giving the rubber stamp when a store's lease comes up for renewal. Instead, as they look to prune their fleets to boost their overall productivity, companies are analyzing their physical footprints more than ever. So in an age when they can shutter underperforming stores in favor of less costly web operations, which retailers are getting the most out of their brick-and-mortar shops? Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen broke down which retailers are paying the most rent per square foot, as well as which generate the most sales per square foot.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was slow to get into alcohol, but now it's fighting for the right to sell more of it. A prime target is Texas, where the world's largest retailer has sued the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, saying legal limits on sales of hard liquor are unconstitutional. One restriction prevents public companies — those with more than 35 shareholders — from selling spirits. The state beverage code also says no company can own more than five liquor stores unless permits for the others are bought from a blood relative.
Mike Ullman, the present CEO of J.C. Penney, will relinquish that post at the end of June 2015. He will stay on as non-executive chairman for a year. Marvin Ellison, president and chief executive-in waiting, will succeed Mr. Ullman in that position. While I haven't yet met with Ullman's successor, I have heard and read good things about him and sense that he motivates associates to do their best. He will certainly need that leadership skill. Ellison will have his hands full.
Frederick's of Hollywood Group Inc., a Los Angeles lingerie brand that struggled to compete with rival Victoria's Secret, has closed all of its stores and will do business only online. "We no longer have store locations," the retailer said on its website, but added that its online store offered the same selection of merchandise.
