Technology and infrastructure investments will account for 50 percent of Pier 1 Imports’ $70 million to $75 million in planned capital expenditures this year. The retailer will have a lot of IT-enabled activity to show for its money. Two of the biggest elements are the July 28 launch of Pier 1's new e-commerce site and the planned rollout of its new point-of-sale system beginning this fall. "We're working diligently towards the implementation of our new point-of-sale system which we expect to pilot in a handful of stores this fall," said Pier 1 CEO Alexander Smith during a recent conference call.
Bazaarvoice released the fourth edition of The Conversation Index, its quarterly research series that turns millions of consumer conversations into a strong data signal for brands and marketers. Derived entirely from first-person input from people across the globe, every edition of The Conversation Index provides tangible ways for brands to improve sales, loyalty and products.
Colonial Candle is opening its first retail and research boutique in Charleston, S.C. The 3,000 square-foot flagship store is the 103-year-old candle company's first and only boutique. Located in Charleston's most exclusive shopping location, The Shops at Charleston Place, the Colonial Candle boutique joins an exclusive collection of world-renowned luxury brands including Godiva, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Lacoste. The flagship store will feature Colonial Candle's complete line, including the brand's signature oval jars in 70 fragrances, tapers in more than 20 colors, a luxury collection and home accessories.
Ubiquitous connectivity allows consumers to easily check prices and buy on the go, which should worry (not terrify) traditional retailers in competitive categories. This "showrooming effect," which has been encouraged by Amazon, would enable web retailers to snatch some sales from the hands of their brick-and-mortar competition. A majority of sales are still happening offline, so the fear of showrooming - that most people are finding screaming deals online - is exaggerated. In fact, the majority of transactions still happen in stores, even when shoppers research online (yes, even when they've got their mobile devices in hand in a store
New York-based Oscar de la Renta is expanding the retail side of its business, according to Women's Wear Daily. This fall, its Madison Avenue flagship will double in size to 4,000 sq. ft., and the company will open its first-ever location in London. Additionally, after the success of the designer’s compact boutique format in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana, the company is considering using a similar concept in more locales. Oscar de la Renta also is considering a retail presence in airports, and perhaps a stand-alone bridal store. Currently, the company operates 13 retail locations.
In a move that will delight web designers and developers everywhere, Australian electronics retailer Kogan has announced that customers using Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) to make purchases will pay a 6.8 percent "IE7 tax." IE7 is the bane of online designers, as it's the least standards-compliant of the current pack. This means that designers need to do separate testing and design changes to make sites appear correctly in all browsers. According to Kogan, that's a quantifiable hard cost that it's no longer willing to pay.
Retail sales in the U.S. fell in May for a second straight month as slower employment and subdued wage gains damped demand, a sign the world’s largest economy is cooling. The 0.2 percent decrease followed a similar decline in April that was previously reported as a gain, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington, D.C. Last month’s drop matched the median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Sales excluding automobiles slumped by the most in two years.
A report released by A.T. Kearney showed that Brazil is once again first among developing countries for global retail expansion. A.T. Kearney’s Global Consumer Institute’s 2012 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) ranks the top 30 developing countries for global retail expansion. Brazil, which topped the list for the second year in a row, was followed by Chile, China, Uruguay and India. Botswana (No. 20) entered the GRDI ranking for the first time, signaling regional growth and the future of Africa as a significant consumer market.
The iconic American retailer J.Crew and Lane Crawford, Asia 's leading designer specialty store, are excited to announce a strategic partnership, providing consumers in Asia with special access to the J.Crew women's and men's collections through Lane Crawford's retail and online stores.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Swedish home furnishings chain spent almost four years researching what the names of its products sound like in Thai, lest some of the translations sound a bit, well, crude. And for good reason: Hookway reports that the "Jättebra," a grey plant pot, could sound like slang for sex. So Ikea hired a team of Thai speakers to make sure that when the more than 9,000 items from its catalog are translated from Swedish to Thai, the translations are appropriate.
