January, 2025

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Embracing MoCRA for a Safer, Transparent Cosmetics Industry

Retail TouchPoints

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) introduces significant regulatory changes for the cosmetics industry, aimed at enhancing consumer safety and product transparency. This article explores the essential MoCRA requirements, from new facility registration and labeling rules to adverse event reporting and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Consumer 292
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After the Christmas high comes the returns, here’s how to break the cycle

Inside Retail

Christmas and end-of-year sales are big business for retailers but they also drive enormous returns. The high volumes of unwanted gifts and remorseful sale purchases have implications beyond the bottom line the environmental impact of emissions, repackaging and damaged goods is becoming excessive. The Australia Institute projected an estimated $1 billion worth of unwanted Christmas gift waste in 2024, with 27 per cent of Australians expected to receive gifts they will not use.

Returns 276
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Overcoming Retail Media Challenges: Strategies for Success

Tokinomo

Retail media is rapidly transforming how brands connect with consumers, but succeeding in this dynamic space is far from simple. Many companies struggle to unlock their full potential, held back by complex challenges that demand innovative solutions. In this article, we explore the critical retail media challenges and provide fresh strategies to help brands stay ahead, build resilience, and drive meaningful results.

Consumer 246
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What’s in store for retail in 2025?

Retail Focus

Its that time of year again when we can sit down, pour ourselves a little (or indeed large) glass of something, and reminisce about the year that was. It is fair to say that retail has had its ups and down in 2024, with plenty of challenges accompanying the good times. While certain trends that were apparent this year may not be as key in 2025, others will continue into the next year and beyond, playing a major role in shaping customer demand.

Consumer 162
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Protect Your Businesss Online Reputation with These Expert Tips

In today's digital world, your online reputation can make or break your business. Protecting it requires proactive strategies, from monitoring customer reviews and social media mentions to responding professionally and showcasing positive feedback. This guide will help you establish a strong online presence, address negative comments effectively, and leverage SEO to highlight your best qualities.

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NRF 2025 Preview: New York’s Javits Center Once Again Becomes the Center of the Retail Universe

Retail TouchPoints

NRF 2025: Retails Big Show will return to New York Citys Javits Center January 12-14, with attendees from all over the globe converging on the Big Apple to visit the more than 1,000 exhibitors and attend the 175 sessions, starting with AI and continuing through the entire retail alphabet. Last years show drew approximately 40,000 attendees. High-profile speakers at the 2025 event will include: Tracee Ellis Ross, Founder, Pattern Beauty ; Pete Nordstrom, President, Nordstrom ; Joshua Schulman, CE

Returns 273
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Advance Auto Parts Is Closing Stores Across the US

Retail Wire

Advance Auto Parts promised to close over 700 stores through mid-2025.

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Coresight Predicts Store Closures will Spike to 15,000 This Year

Retail TouchPoints

Following a raft of stores closures in 2024, retail advisory firm Coresight Research predicts that closures will escalate further this year, to approximately 15,000. Store openings are expected to remain steady at approximately 5,800 (compared to 5,970 in 2024), but that would still represent a net loss of more than 9,000 stores. Supporting these expectations is the fact that more than 2,000 planned closures already are underway this year.

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Tracee Ellis Ross on Innovation, Team Building and Why ‘Challenge’ Marketing is Broken

Retail TouchPoints

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross started building her vision for Pattern Beauty while starring on the sitcom Girlfriends , but it was her lifelong experience as a curly girly (a woman with curled and coiled hair) that inspired the idea and was validated by generations of women with similar experiences. I wanted to actually create products that supported hair the way it grew out of its head not to straighten it or anything, Ross said during a conversation with Business of Fashion s Sheena Butler-Young

Marketing 274
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AI Successes from L’Oréal, Lowe’s and Walmart Bring Context to the AI Conversation

Retail TouchPoints

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a headline topic at the National Retail Federations annual Big Show , and NVIDIA is undoubtedly one of the companies leading the industrys innovation in this sector. Typically known for its Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), which power breakthrough technologies for companies like Meta and Open AI , NVIDIA is now staking a claim in the retail industry by powering solutions for companies ranging from LOral to Lowes and Walmart.

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Ulta Taps Instacart for Same-Day Delivery

Retail TouchPoints

Ulta Beauty has teamed up with Instacart to offer same-day delivery from its more than 1,400 stores acrossthe U.S. in as fast as one hour. Instacart customers can now shop a wide selection of skin care, hair care, cosmetics, fragrances and wellness products from Ulta. The partnership also integrates Ulta Beauty Rewards into the Instacart app , allowing members to earn points on every Ulta Beauty purchase made via Instacart by linking their accounts through Ulta Beauty’s storefront.

Grocer 293
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5 Ways You Can Win Faster with Gen AI in Sales

Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.

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Five Trends Poised to Shape the Future of Digital Experiences in 2025

Retail TouchPoints

As digital experiences have evolved over the past few years, personalization and emotional connection have become central to customer engagement strategy for companies. According to Forresters U.S. Customer Experience Index (CX Index ) rankings , only 3% of companies are currently customer-obsessed and put their customers needs front and center. Which is completely counterintuitive.

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The Waste Management Challenge of the Holiday Season

Retail TouchPoints

The holiday season brings a surge in shopping, both in-store and online. From mountains of packaging to returned products that may contain hazardous materials, management of returned, damaged or expired products becomes increasingly complex and voluminous during the holidays and post-holiday season. Retailers must navigate these challenges while staying compliant with regulations so they can ensure smooth operations and demonstrate environmental responsibility.

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Day two at NRF: Pattern Beauty, Tommy Hilfiger and the power of storytelling

Inside Retail

If you don’t have your narrative set, someone else will tell your story, said Katie Welch, the chief marketing officer of Rare Beauty. That was one of the key messages delivered on the second day of Retails Big Show, the National Retail Federations (NRF) annual conference and expo, which is being held in New York City this week. Major players in the retail industry like Tracee Ellis Ross, the founder and co-CEO of Pattern Beauty; Tommy Hilfiger, founder of the iconic eponymous apparel bran

ATS 289
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Ebay, Instacart, DoorDash Sign Up to Test OpenAI’s New Agentic Tool, Operator  

Retail TouchPoints

Ebay , DoorDash , Instacart and Uber are among the companies that have signed on to participate in the research preview of OpenAI s new AI agent interface, called Operator. OpenAI describes Operator as an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for you. Similar to other agentic AI tools from companies like Google , Salesforce and Perplexity , Operator acts as a virtual assistant, autonomously performing tasks across the internet, including online shopping, ordering groceries, filling out f

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The Evolving Retailer's Fulfillment Strategy: Meeting Demands with Agility

Speaker: Becky Parisotto and John Vurdelja

Fulfillment is no longer just about getting products from point A to point B – it's about crafting seamless, scalable, customer first experiences. Flexible fulfillment strategies are more important than ever for those aiming to stay ahead and build resilience as retail enters a new era in 2025. Learn how to optimize fulfillment processes, tackle complex, multi-vendor orders, and create seamless customer experiences – from white-glove delivery for high-value items to quick-ship solutions for ever

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How Jointly Leverages AI and Journaling App Data to Fine-Tune Cannabis Product Recommendations

Retail TouchPoints

Given that different cannabis products can produce a wide range of effects among consumers, one of the biggest challenges facing cannabis retailers is matching the right product with the right customer. To the newbie consumer, theres a confusing welter of terms like indica and sativa as well as the multiplying variations of edible products, each with different levels of THC and other ingredients that affect the products impact.

Consumer 300
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Navigating the Tariff Era: A Strategic Roadmap for Retailers

Retail TouchPoints

The re-emergence of tariffs on the global trade horizon has once again thrust the retail industry into uncertainty. While policymakers often champion tariffs as a mechanism to protect domestic industries, their ripple effects are far-reaching, inflating costs, disrupting supply chains and, ultimately, burdening consumers. As retailers brace for this looming economic shift, learning from past experiences and implementing forward-thinking strategies is paramount to mitigating risk and seizing oppo

Apparel 273
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Barnes & Noble Plans to Open 60 New Stores in 2025

Retail TouchPoints

Barnes & Noble will open approximately 60 stores this year, according to reporting in the Financial Times (FT). The retailer, owned by Elliott Investment Management along with the UK bookseller Waterstones , opened 57 stores in the U.S. and 12 in the UK last year. The retailer currently operates 650 stores. Waterstones Managing Director James Daunt, who also leads Barnes & Noble, told FT that last year represented a really significant expansion, and that the company plans to do that or m

Planning 332
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Why Chatbots Haven’t (and Won’t) Live up to the Hype

Retail TouchPoints

In the early 2010s, technology forecasters and business analysts painted a compelling picture of the future of customer service: chatbots would dramatically cut labor costs and transform how consumers interacted with brands. Fast forward to today, and the reality has yet to live up to the hype. While chatbots have found their place in the customer service ecosystem, they havent achieved the dominance and ubiquity that many predicted.

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Modernizing the Frontend Experience on Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Unlock agility, boost performance, and gain control over your Salesforce frontend with the latest masterclass from Composable.com : Modernizing the Frontend Experience on Salesforce Commerce Cloud Featuring experts from Algolia, Ember, Netlify, and Stripe, this masterclass focuses on practical strategies for optimizing your Salesforce Commerce Cloud storefronts using modern composable commerce integrations.

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CFPB Sues Walmart for Illegal Payment Practices that Allegedly Cost Drivers $10 Million

Retail TouchPoints

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has sued Walmart and Branch Messenger , alleging that the partners forced the third-party delivery drivers in Walmarts Spark Driver program to use costly deposit accounts to access their earnings and in the process harvested more than $10 million in fees from the workers. Walmarts Spark Driver program uses gig workers to make last-mile deliveries from Walmart stores across the U.S.

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Kurt Geiger is ‘Going Big in North America’ with Plans for 50 U.S. Stores

Retail TouchPoints

British footwear and accessories label Kurt Geiger has unveiled plans to bring its London verve across the pond in a big way. Following the opening of its first U.S. store, at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando in early 2024, the brand has opened its next three U.S. stores at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, N.Y., Del Amo in Los Angeles and Fashion Valley in San Diego.

Planning 295
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Curbing the $890 Billion Return Problem: Proactive Solutions for Retailers

Retail TouchPoints

With the holiday season just concluded, the challenge of managing merchandise returns is a reality for many retailers. According to the latest data from the National Retail Federation (NRF), merchandise returns are projected to reach an astounding $890 billion in 2024, accounting for approximately 16.9% of sales. While this underscores the inevitability of returns, it also highlights the need for retailers to refine their digital strategies.

Returns 292
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Returns Fraud: Identifying and Addressing a Growing Threat

Retail TouchPoints

With the holiday season out of the way, next to come is a wave of returns that will stretch into the new year. Given the heightened focus on return policies during this period, it is an opportune time for customer fulfillment leaders to raise awareness within their organizations about a persistent challenge confronting retailers: the rise in retail returns fraud.

Returns 274
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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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Note to Retailers: How to Maximize the Post-Purchase Experience With a Modern Order Management System

Retail TouchPoints

Delivering a smooth and frictionless post-purchase experience should be a top priority for every retailer. According to PwC, businesses that reduce friction for consumers and empower all employees to make things right whether through returns, price adjustments or other policies bring higher customer satisfaction and more forgiveness. This point is critical because even when customers love a company or product, 59% of shoppers in the U.S. will walk away from a business after several bad experie

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How Authentic Reviews, Transparency can Help Alleviate the Headache of Returns

Retail TouchPoints

Theres a famous quote, usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, to the effect that there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes. Retailers might want to grimly add and product returns to that list of lifes inevitabilities. The numbers back up this somewhat cynical assertion: the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported that U.S. consumers returned $890 billion in merchandise in 2024, equaling 16.9% of all purchases.

Returns 273
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The North Face Appeals to All 5 Senses to Bring the Outdoors into its London Flagship

Retail TouchPoints

Want to enjoy the best of the outdoors without, you know, actually going outside? Then the recently opened London flagship of The North Face is the place for you. The retailer, working with Mood Media , has created an experiential retail location equipped with a large-scale LED visual wall displaying curated content, carefully chosen music and even a custom fragrance, White Pepperwood, carrying the scent of the outdoors through the air.

Outdoor 273
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174-Year-Old Books Inc. Files for Bankruptcy, CEO Promises Company is ‘Not Going Away’

Retail TouchPoints

California-based independent bookstore chain Books Inc. has filed for Chapter 11, citing steadily rising operating costs and changing consumer habits as the reasons for its current financial difficulties.The storied San Francisco company has operated in the city for 174 years, since founder Anton Roman opened the first store on Montgomery Street in 1855.

Planning 283
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5 Tips to Build a Strong Web Presence for Your Small Business

Creating a solid web presence is crucial for small business success in today's digital world. This blog covers five essential tips to help you build and strengthen your online presence. Learn how to create a professional website, optimize it for search engines, and leverage social media to engage with your audience. We'll also guide you on the importance of local listings and how to maintain a consistent brand across all platforms.

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Returns and Fraud are on the Rise — Happy Returns Wants to Help

Retail TouchPoints

Geekplus robots are now in use at all three of Happy Returns’ Hubs. (Image courtesy Happy Returns) Inside a large warehouse in Pennsylvania, dozens of black robots dart and swirl across a polished concrete floor. They resemble Roombas with a skinny highboy table on top. Geekplus, the company that makes them, calls them dancing robots, and for good reason they really do look like dancers in the midst of an intricate performance.

Returns 267
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A Pragmatic Guide to Building a Global Retail and Ecommerce Content Strategy

Retail TouchPoints

In the highly competitive world of retail and ecommerce, brands must deliver personalized and relevant customer experiences to stay ahead. Tailoring product descriptions, marketing campaigns and customer service to align with varying consumer preferences across regions and languages not only increases conversion rates but also drives trust and credibility, thereby building long-term customer loyalty.

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Amazon Launches Advertising Service for Retailer Apps, Websites

Retail TouchPoints

Amazon has unveiled a new offering, the Retail Ad Service , which will allow any retailer to easily offer advertising on their digital platforms using the same technology that powers ads on Amazon.com. The service, which is built on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure, enables online retailers to show product ads on their search, browse and product pages.

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Vince Holding Corp. Changes Hands, Former CEO Brendan Hoffman to Return to the Helm

Retail TouchPoints

Newly formed luxury apparel-focused innovation venture P180 has acquired Sun Capital Partners majority stake in Vince Holding Corp. (VNCE) , giving it a 65% stake in the retailer. P180 was co-founded by former Vince CEO Brendan Hoffman, who will become CEO of the brand again on Feb. 3, 2025. Hoffman previously served as CEO of Vince from 2015 to 2020 before leaving to lead Wolverine Worldwide, first as President and then CEO through August 2023.

Returns 276
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10 Ways to Leverage Buyer Signals and Drive Revenue

In today’s ultra-competitive markets, it’s no longer enough to wait for buyers to show obvious signs of interest. Instead, sales teams must be proactive, identifying and acting on nuanced buyer behaviors — often before prospects are fully ready to make a purchase. In this eBook from ZoomInfo & Sell Better, learn 10 actionable ways to use these buyer signals to transform your sales strategy and close deals faster.