Less than 12 hours after Macy's shared bleak holiday results, J.C. Penney Co. said enhanced digital capabilities and strong demand for its private-label offerings helped it to produce strong holiday season same-store sales growth, which allowed the company to reaffirm its full-year profit forecast.
The demise of physical stores has become a familiar narrative during the holiday season, but nothing could be further from the truth, according to one man better positioned than most to know.
Consumers don't see "channels." They are time-starved and information-rich, and use technology that they carry around in their pockets and purses to find the best solutions to their lifestyle needs.
Retailers in the United States are taking a huge risk by underestimating the buying power of the over-50 generation, according to a report by the Fung Business Intelligence Centre.
More than 80 percent of retailers plan to increase their customer experience spending in 2015, according to a new survey from SDL, a provider of global customer experience, and Econsultancy.
Whole Foods Market moves into the fast-growing same-day grocery-delivery space with the news that it is partnering with one-hour grocery delivery start-up Instacart to have products delivered to customers' homes in as little as one hour. Customers will soon also have the option to place orders via Instacart and pick up their order at a local Whole Foods store.
In the early days of e-commerce, internet shopping was supposed to spell the demise of the physical store. Pure play online retailers would sweep all before them, rendering the retail store a historical curiosity. In fact, it hasn't quite worked out like that. Recent Accenture research confirms that more shoppers are planning to increase their purchases from physical stores this year than last. However, the positive news for brick-and-mortar needs to be tempered with the realization that what shoppers want from the in-store experience is changing fast, shaped by their digital experiences. Retailers who fail to understand those new needs and adapt accordingly will struggle.
The focus of c-suite and senior executive attention has shifted from economic uncertainty to data, technology and the supply chain, according to the Global Top of Mind Survey from KPMG International and the Consumer Goods Forum. More than half (54 percent) of respondents cited digital strategy for mobile/digital platforms as top of mind for their business during the next 12 months.
