Forever 21 enters the beauty space
The Forever 21 team is testing a new beauty concept (“Riley Rose”) in a number of GGP malls around the country. I commented at RetailWire about this news before seeing one of the prototype stores: As...
View ArticleThe “upselling” opportunity depends on training
From a recent RetailWire discussion, here are my thoughts on the volume opportunity of “upselling.” As usual, the issue depends on the kind of retailer we’re talking about: Upselling can’t work...
View ArticleOmnichannel: Not just a matter of semantics
As retailers continue to grapple with their own definition of “omnichannel,” I thought this RetailWire comment might offer some clarity: I ordered razor blades from Amazon a few days ago, and I just...
View ArticleIs the off-price space already overcrowded?
Any student of retailing has seen segment after segment get overcrowded with imitators and then go through a period of consolidation — from department stores to discounters. Here’s a recent RetailWire...
View ArticleCan Macy’s claim a turnaround?
Today’s RetailWire panel focused on Macy’s 2017 holiday results, where they reported a 1% gain for the season. Despite the optimism of their executive chairman Terry Lundgren, most panelists agree with...
View ArticleDid Walmart deserve the punishment?
By “punishment,” I mean the 10% drop in Walmart’s stock price yesterday (February 20) when the company reported slower-than-expected sales and profits in its e-commerce business. My comment at...
View ArticleDepartment stores expand off-price concepts
Macy’s reported in its year-end earnings call that it plans to expand its Backstage off-price concept to 100 more stores this year. (And Backstage is located inside existing Macy’s locations.) Here’s...
View ArticleIs Aldi moving “uptown” too fast?
Here’s a recent comment from RetailWire about Aldi, and its decision to open more stores in upscale suburbs and neighborhoods. I think it’s a smart idea: Many of the original Aldi locations (at least...
View ArticleBackstage a short-term win for Macy’s
As the topic of this post suggests, I am a skeptic about whether a store-in-store location strategy for Backstage really makes sense for Macy’s. Here’s my recent comment from RetailWire: It’s hard to...
View ArticleWhat should the new Penney CEO do first?
Here are a couple of related posts (from RetailWire) about the future of JCP. The first one notes the departure of CEO Marvin Ellison for Lowe’s, and the second post joins the debate about whether...
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