Things Should Heat Up in the Retail Sector All this good news about COVID couldn’t come at a better time for retail. That’s because traditionally, many of the big retail “holidays” happen in late-spring and summer. Mother’s Day. Graduation. Not to mention Back to School and Back to College, which have quickly grown into massive

One of the biggest issues retailers have always faced is how to wrestle with the beast known as shrink, aka return or exchange items. Online shopping adds a new wrinkle for shrink management: how exactly should retailers handle the load when customers Buy Online, Return in Store (aka BORIS)? According to David Sobie, CEO and

Now that the COVID vaccine is getting distributed, the end of the pandemic is finally in sight. It won’t be long until we start seeing customers back in stores, maybe even flush with extra spending money from another round of stimulus checks. Many of the big retail changes from COVID—such as temperature checks, enforced mask

After a year of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval, you would expect most retailers to spend the year trying to get back to where they were before the pandemic. You’d be wrong. As we enter 2021 with multiple COVID vaccines already being deployed, many of the most influential retailers have ambitious plans for 2021—plans that will

As we say goodbye to what will be known—without an iota of understatement—as one of the most tumultuous years in world history, it’s worth looking forward to see what may await the retail industry in 2021. So far, many of the experts are using a word that didn’t get much traction in 2020: stability. Retail

The list of retailers that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy during the COVID pandemic is truly shocking. We’ve seen some of America’s oldest and most stalwart brands like J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor, and Nieman Marcus enter Chapter 11 restructuring. Other brands in Chapter 11 include former health giant GNC, preppy icon J. Crew,

It has now been more than six months since the world as we know it changed. While lockdowns have eased up and the infection rate has mercifully slowed in some areas we want to take this opportunity to look at how shopping during the pandemic has altered consumer sentiment and the retail landscape. Are innovations

This year, Halloween retailers are getting spooked, but not in a good way. Halloween—traditionally one of the most popular holidays in terms of retail spend—will look considerably different this year due to COVID. Combined with consumer trend forecasts for diminished Back-to-School spending, this fall is shaping up to be filled with uncertainty for retailers, consumers

We know the 2020 Holiday Season is going to be unlike any other. The big question is what will it look like? How can retailers prepare for changing consumer behaviors? With Black Friday—traditionally the kickoff to the Holiday Season—losing steam with consumers over the last five years, let’s take a look at how some of

Any way you look at it, retail is a tough business. Customers have more choices than ever. Competition is increasing every day. Brand loyalty is diminishing. Which makes having a reliable Business Intelligence (BI) solution in your arsenal more critical than ever. Trying to navigate all the hurdles facing retail in 2020 without BI is