Wed.Mar 09, 2022

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As Malls Reinvent Themselves, Department Stores Will Need to Rethink and Redesign

Retail TouchPoints

It’s no secret that malls are struggling for relevancy. Once the “it” hangout spot for elderly mall walkers and teenyboppers alike, many malls have been left in the dust by rapid shifts in the way consumers live, work and shop. In mid-2021 Moody’s Analytics predicted that of the roughly 1,000 or so traditional malls left in the U.S., 20% would close or go through a “major repurposing” in the very near future, and other analysts have predicted closure rates closer to 30%.

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Myer posts strong performance in half year results

Inside Retail

Department store Myer has recorded a strong performance in its half-year results, with net profit after tax hitting $32.3 million – an increase of 55 per cent. . Myer’s total group sales were up at 8.5 per cent to $1.51 billion, with comparable sales growth of 17.8 per cent. Group online sales grew 47.5 per cent to $424.1 million contributing 27 per cent of total sales.

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Creating Retail Agility Requires a New Way to Think about Data

Retail TouchPoints

Disruptions to the supply chain, shifts in customer behavior, and even unexpected weather events are impacting retail sales across ecommerce and brick-and-mortar — changing where, when, how and why customers purchase. It’s those retailers that can most quickly and accurately react to these turbulent market forces and behaviors that are creating the most innovative and positive customer experiences.

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Explainer: Why is Amazon in a battle with Indian retail giant Reliance?

Inside Retail

For more than a year, Amazon.com Inc and India’s Future Group have been locked in a complex legal stand-off that has stalled Future’s $3.4 billion sale of assets to rival Reliance Industries, the country’s biggest conglomerate. After trading barbs in courtrooms for months, Amazon and Future unexpectedly agreed on March 3 to hold discussions to resolve their dispute.

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From Data to Decisions: Maximizing Retail Potential with AI

Speaker: David Azoulay, Marc Stracuzza, Román Tejada, and guest speaker Sucharita Kodali

Imagine a retail landscape where every interaction is personalized, every decision informed, and every opportunity maximized 🤔✨ Join us for an exploratory journey into the heart of AI-driven retail innovation. We’ll unveil the transformative potential of AI and data analytics in shaping the future of omnichannel personalization and e-commerce.

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Lululemon Launches First Footwear Collection With ‘Women First’ in Mind

Retail TouchPoints

Lululemon has kicked off its first footwear collection after more than 20 years of focusing on athleisurewear. Starting with the introduction of women’s styles on March 22, Lululemon will introduce the first design, named Blissfeel, a running shoe with foam cushion technology, in North America, China and the UK. The shoe will launch in 10 colors. “Footwear is the natural next step for us to expand and apply our long history of innovation in fit, feel and performance, and it represents an exciti

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How gaming venue Fortress is levelling up the local esports scene

Inside Retail

In 2020, gaming entertainment chain Fortress launched its first physical location in Emporium Melbourne, at the time heralded as the southern hemisphere’s largest esports and gaming entertainment venue. . But last month the business announced it would bring an even bigger flagship store to Central Mall, Sydney, which will hold up to 1000 people, and offer a full-service restaurant, a bar, an area filled with PCs for gamers to play together, as well as a 200-seat auditorium designed to host espor

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Break the bias: Why great parental leave policies make business sense

Inside Retail

One of the major issues facing women in the workplace is the stigma around taking time off to start a family, and how it impacts their work prospects. After all, women make up 88 per cent of all utilised carer’s leave, according to Workplace Gender Equality Agency data. This means that women are absent from work for around seven times as long as men when they take parental leave.

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Dollar Tree Settles with Activist Investor, Appoints Former Dollar General CEO to Lead Board

Retail TouchPoints

Following several months of pressure from activist investor Mantle Ridge , Dollar Tree has announced the makeup of its “reconstituted” Board of Directors, which will now be led by former Dollar General CEO Richard Dreiling as Executive Chair. Mantle Ridge Founder and CEO Paul Hilal will join the Board as Vice Chair. In December 2021, Mantle Ridge pushed for an overhaul of the Dollar Tree Board, putting forward 11 nominees, including Dreiling and Hilal, and saying that the company “will benefit f

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Tony Barlow Fine Tailoring to open Perth store

Inside Retail

WA-based menswear label, Tony Barlow Fine Tailoring, is replacing its existing Perth store in Hay Street with a two-storey store on the same street after securing a 10-year lease for the retail space negotiated by Peter Millard of Knight Frank. Peter Millard said the location was the biggest drawcard for Tony Barlow Fine Tailoring. The grand opening was joined by Basil Zempilas, Perth’s Lord Mayor and representatives from local AFL and soccer clubs.

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Three Key Considerations Affecting Retail Design in 2022

Retail TouchPoints

With the potential for new COVID variants, record levels of inflation and evolving consumer preferences, 2022 retail design will change more in the next year than it has in the past decade. Retailers need to expand beyond the generic retail spaces of the past in order to maximize for shop-ability, safety and profitability. Here are the three key factors affecting retail design, and what retailers and brands need to do next. 1.

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The Personalization Playbook: 2024 Strategies

Did you know—74% of IT leaders are looking to improve their tech stack to offer better personalization? It’s impossible to ignore the importance of personalization, but it comes with challenges. How do you do it with a tight budget? What about customer privacy and the use of data? The Personalization Playbook is packed with research and insights from Orium, Talon.One, and Bloomreach and gives IT leaders answers to these tough questions, helping them shape 2024 strategies for personalization.

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How retailers can support people and businesses affected by floods

Inside Retail

At least 20 people have died and tens of thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed in the devastating floods that have swept through New South Wales and Queensland over the past two weeks. . The government believes the damage could exceed $2 billion, and those who have been through floods before say it will be years, not months, before the region recovers.

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Lululemon launches running shoes designed for women

Retail Wire

Lululemon is launching a line of running shoes with its first entry designed for women. “We saw a real opportunity to take our Science of Feel philosophy around feeling your best to perform your best into the footwear category to support the [customer] head to toe,” said Sun Choe, Lululemon’s chief product officer.

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Cisco Point of View on: eSports

Cisco Retail

Video Games refer to digital games in diverse formats, but the focus is placed on games played on pc/mobile/consoles, not involving gambling or droning. eSports is a vertical of Video Gaming. It refers to competitive video game tournaments that have individuals or teams comprising of professional gamers competing for a prize pool. The global video gaming industry was $180.3 Billion in 2021.

Consumer 137
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U.S. gas prices reach all time high

Retail Wire

The average cost for a gallon of unleaded regular gas rose to $4.17, the highest amount on record. Consumers in California are paying the most for a gallon of gas ($5.44) and Oklahomans are paying the least ($3.71).

Consumer 130
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Mapping Digital Transformation: Retail’s Strategic Shift

Speaker: Jennifer Wright, Michael Scholz, Jasmin Guthmann, and Scott Canney

Digital transformation in retail is so much more than new technology. You need to get your whole organization, from entry-level workers to executives, on board with the new tech, new skills, and culture changes that digital transformation brings. Leading this mindset shift can be a daunting task… but that’s where this webinar comes in! Join our panel of experts as they guide you through the challenges of digital transformation, preparing you to avoid common mistakes and make the most of incredib

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The Future of Work Part 6: Reimagine Your Networking Perspective

Cisco Retail

Part 6 of the 6-part Future of Work Networking Series : Reimagine Your Networking Perspective. Reading through this “The Future of Work” blog series, you may have noticed that our focus was mainly on achieving high quality of experience for applications that support the hybrid workplace and workforce. Why? Because the future of work isn’t just about the ways in which people connect to the network or the type of applications they use.

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Mothercare suspends business in Russia, despite taking a big hit

Retail Wire

Russia represents between 20 and 25 percent of Mothercare’s total business. That has not stopped the baby products retailer from suspending operations in the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Walmart adds free Spotify to Walmart+, gives membership free to staff

Retail Dive

As it adds perks, the retailer is giving its free-delivery subscription to associates, in part so they can sell it to customers based on experience.

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FTC says Weight Watchers gathered data on kids

Retail Wire

The Kurbo by WW (formerly Weight Watchers) app gathered information on kids as young as eight without their parents’ consent, according to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint. WW agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty and erase algorithms used to collect the information from kids.

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Planning the Architecture of Your Modular DXP

Are you considering moving away from a monolith platform and over to composable architecture? Join experts from Google Cloud, GroupBy, and Orium as they discuss the benefits of moving to a modular digital experience platform. In this masterclass, uncover key indicators that show your brand is ready for a modular DXP, and learn how to lay the foundation for composable commerce.

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What’s the best industrial router—for you?

Cisco Retail

When the ice cream choices are chocolate or vanilla, my decision is easy. (Chocolate.) When the choices expand to dozens of flavors, cone types, and toppings, the decision gets harder. The same goes for choosing the best industrial router. Cisco now offers more than 10 industrial routers to meet widely varying edge requirements—industry certifications, access technologies, stationary versus moving assets, cloud or on-premise management, environmental conditions, and more.

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Stitch Fix slashes forecast

Retail Wire

Stitch Fix is struggling to bring on new members for its subscription service and getting non-subscribers to buy its fashion merchandise. Stitch Fix expects revenues to be flat to slightly down for the current fiscal year.

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SKU'd: The hottest fashion trend right now is higher prices

Retail Dive

Whoever says what goes up must come down obviously hasn't been to Chanel. Because they, along with other fashion houses, are increasing prices like it is going out of style.

Fashion 107
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Walmart associates get Walmart+ membership for free

Retail Wire

Walmart associates around the U.S. working in its stores, distribution and fulfillment centers are eligible to receive the company’s Walmart+ free grocery delivery, gas and prescription drug savings program for free.

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How Personalized Customer Experiences Drive Retail Growth and Revenue

Speaker: Shaunna Bruton - Associate Director of Product Strategy at Orium | Sam Panzer - Director of Industry Strategy at Talon.One | Frank Passantino - Director of Product Management at Bloomreach

More and more, customers are expecting a better personalized CX. But can retailers actually deliver? Data from McKinsey shows that companies that excel in personalization increase their revenue by 40%, but despite these numbers, retailers struggle to implement customer personalization strategies. So what are the potential solutions? Join us to gain a better understanding of the current retail landscape and learn what you can do to translate personalization strategies into practical implementatio

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A Fictional Press Release Can Be a Great Motivator

Hyken

I’ve been asked many times how to get the C-suite to invest in customer service. There are plenty of good answers. My go-to response has always been, “Show them the numbers.” The C-suite loves numbers. Prove that spending $100 will make the company $200, and you just may capture the attention of a decision-maker in the C-suite. . Now there is a new way to approach leadership with an idea, which is to write a Fictional Press Release. .

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Macy’s is reworking debt and making investments

Retail Wire

Macy’s plans to refinance and pay down debt in the coming weeks. The department store retailer is also looking to buy back shares and make other investments. “We’ve focused on removing those really expensive towers [of debt] that were driven by the Covid pandemic and we put ourselves in a much better position with a much more reasonable rate of return,” said CFO Adrian Mitchell.

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Stay on target: How accurate threat detection leads to better defense

Cisco Retail

The X-Wings began their run across the surface of the Death Star, racing to attack an exposed thermal exhaust port. Luke Skywalker was there, his tiny spacecraft rocking and shaking, buffeted by explosions. As he closed in on his target, Luke did something truly daring—he switched off his targeting system. He was now relying solely on the Force to help him find his objective.

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House Judiciary Committee says Amazon may have engaged in ‘potentially criminal conduct’

Retail Wire

A bipartisan group of members on the House Judiciary Committee have alerted the Justice Department about “potentially criminal conduct” by Amazon.com and its senior executives. The House members sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland accusing Amazon of conduct that appeared to be designed to “influence, obstruct, or impede” the committee’s work.

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Retails Next Frontier: Exploring and Proving the Value of AI

AI is everywhere. It’s in customer service interactions, product recommendations, marketing outreach, and yes, even commerce experiences. But not every use of AI provides the same value to your brand. In this masterclass, experts from Constructor, commercetools, Contentstack, and Orium discuss how AI can complement your composable tech stack and help bring in immediate ROI.

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Our vision for AI policies that bolster beneficial uses and uphold human rights

Cisco Retail

It’s hard to go a day without hearing this: while artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are powering incredible new innovations, they are also creating new challenges. Because AI and ML can have consequential impact on individuals and society, these technologies demand clear governance over how they are developed, deployed, and used.

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Buy now, pay later popularity shows no signs of slowing, FIS report says

Retail Dive

The Jacksonville, Florida-based payments company expects BNPL to be the fastest-growing e-commerce payment method through 2025 in the U.S. and Canada.

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The height of fashion – the brick and mortar revival

I Vend

After two years of lockdowns and closed stores, restrictions seem to be over in many countries. Retailers are breathing massive sighs of relief and brick and mortar shops are busying once more. Shoppers are returning to retail stores in their droves – where lockdown saw the rapid rise of online purchasing, industry experts are now forecasting a similar upward trajectory for brick and mortar shopping. iVend Retail for Footwear and Apparel iVend helps retailers offer a differentiated shoppin

Fashion 91
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Lululemon's first footwear collection features a running shoe and a post-workout slide

Retail Dive

Designed specifically for women, the first four styles are focused on a variety of exercises. The athletics retailer will launch men's footwear next year.

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2024’s Retail Odyssey: Going Small, Artificial, and Augmented!

Speaker: Kelly Goetsch - Chief Strategy Officer at Commercetools | Jason Cottrel - CEO & Founder at Orium | and guest speaker Brendan Witcher - VP, Principal Analyst at Forrester

Significant modifications are on the horizon for digital commerce in retail and customer experience come 2024. The pace of tech shifts will intensify, businesses are set to defund legacy solutions, and attractive opportunities will surface as social and retail media players join forces. To stay ahead of the curve, digital leaders are experimenting with less risky initiatives and scaling back on outdated projects that no longer yield impactful results.