Merchandising

Consolidation has long been a key growth strategy across retail and CPG. Big companies have spent decades buying up competitors, acquiring niche brands, and expanding into new categories. Why? Ideally, a large, varied portfolio would drive scale, diversification, market share, consumer trend alignment, and business growth. But as the industry evolves, are portfolio cracks starting…

Managing inventory is challenging across all industries, but retailers face the added challenge of scale. While a standard company may need to plan for 100,000 products in a single warehouse, a major retailer needs to manage that same volume across thousands of different store locations. This makes even basic data collection difficult. For example, even…

In episode 506 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Kathy Gagliano, executive vice president of merchandising at Books-A-Million, the second largest bookstore retailer operating more than 220 stores in the United States. The discussion begins with the history of the company, dating all the way back to 1917 (0:55). According to Gagliano, the…

Inventory data has quietly become the most important customer experience (CX) system in modern retail, and the foundation of true, storewide intelligence that connects what customers see on shelves with what systems believe is available. When shelf reality and system reality match, every other experience promised — from personalization to buy online, pick up in-store…

After attending NRF Big Show earlier this year and EuroShop more recently, it’s clear that retailers aren’t short of ideas. They’re focused on what actually works, consistently, across stores, day in and day out, and that shift points to a broader reality the industry has been circling for some time. Retail’s biggest challenge is execution…

If there's anything consistent when it comes to global trade at present, it is its constant inconsistencies. Global sourcing is entering a new phase defined less by cost optimization and more by resilience and flexibility. So far this year, retailers and brands are navigating a complex environment shaped by tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and shifting trade…

Returns fraud is accelerating, and “keep it” policies are making it worse. Frankly, they should be illegal. On paper, telling a customer to keep a low-cost item and issuing a refund looks efficient. No shipping. No processing. No restocking. No warehouse touch. In practice, it's lazy operations dressed up as customer convenience. It creates fraud…

In today’s retail market, the hottest item isn’t always the original product. Increasingly, it’s the dupe. Across social media, influencers regularly spotlight lower-cost alternatives to luxury and premium products, and consumers eagerly pursue these “dupes,” turning imitation into a viral shopping strategy. But for retailers, the dupe economy raises an important question: When does an…

Your next most valuable customer isn't a person. It's an artificial intelligence agent, and it's already shopping. Whether through personal assistants or retailer-embedded tools, AI is shifting retail from search-driven discovery to intent-driven commerce, where the sale is won before a consumer starts browsing. Think that's just wishful thinking from people who work in tech?…

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is no longer theoretical. It’s rolling out, starting with textiles. And the message is simple: if you put product into the market, you’re responsible for where it ends up. That’s not a sustainability slogan. That’s an operating shift. EPR means accountability for collection, reuse, recycling, reporting, and proof. Not estimates. Not…