Sears Holding Corp., which includes both Sears and Kmart, has been experiencing declining sales since they merged in 2005. However, their holiday sales really raised some eyebrows, as the company reported an adjusted loss of somewhere between $811 and $914 million in 2013…
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Smal-Mart?
In my last column, I discussed some of the major trends that I see becoming a factor in 2014, with one of those being the continued movement for retailers to shrink their physical footprints. Most prominently, Target and Wal-Mart have begun exploring this option—specifically in urban markets where space is at a premium. In this […]
Feelings and Forecasts for 2014
With a little more than a week remaining in 2013, I think now is a good time to reflect on what we learned this year and begin to look ahead to what we can expect to see in 2014. I suspect that many retailers will continue to downsize their physical footprints, and I anticipate a […]
A Poultry Turnout or a Bigger Slice of the Pie?
The headlines from this year’s Black Friday are varied. On one hand, sales figures were down for the first time in four years, which doesn’t bode well for overall holiday shopping sales figures. On the other hand, online spending was up 15 percent for the weekend, accounting for $1.2 billion in sales, and up 21 […]
Retail Rap: Shades of Gray in Black Friday
The holiday shopping season is typically the biggest of the year, and retailers are looking to get shoppers thinking about holiday shopping sooner this year than in years past. Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have already begun airing holiday shopping advertisements, and stores continue to push Black Friday earlier into Thanksgiving Thursday. My question is […]
Phoenix Rising?
Like many other markets throughout the U.S., the Phoenix market has had its share of ups and down, and retailers are still coming to terms with the “new normal” outlined post-recession. I this week’s edition of Retail Rap, my twice-monthly column at Chain Store Age, I sit down with Dave Cheatham from Phoenix-based Velocity Retail Group, an X Team International Partner, to discuss the current state of the Phoenix marketplace, where we see it going in the coming months and what it means for retailers in the area.
