Operations

Let’s be honest – when it comes to retail fraud, the online world grabs all the attention – and probably justifiably so. In 2022, losses stemming from internet shopping scams and duplicity approached $400 million, according to statistics from the Better Business Bureau. The web’s anonymity coupled with the transmission of sensitive personal information and credit card data – albeit usually encrypted – and aided by a complex logistics and delivery system has all proven to be a boon for those born with a certain technological swagger and a …

The 11 Most Frequent Forms of Retail Employee Fraud in 2023Read More

We’re all guilty of repeating the tired clichés about millennials being forever renters and never buying their own homes as generations before them have done. Well, fuhgeddaboudit. New research shows that not only is this generation – now the largest demographic group in the country – buying homes but more of them are now homeowners than renters. It’s a remarkable transformation for what has to be one of the most over-analyzed yet misunderstood groups on the American population landscape. And with this huge shift, it means potentially big …

Shocking, Breaking News: More Millennials Now Own Homes Than Rent ThemRead More

Department stores have been on an inexorable slide into oblivion over the last decade. Since 2012, department store sales, excluding discount department stores, have declined nearly 50 percent, dropping from $63 billion to $32.4 billion in 2022, while retail overall advanced 65 percent. Notably, no other sector in retail experienced a rate of decline so high. It’s no surprise that a big chunk of those dollars went to online retailers with their sales more than tripling in the decade, from $408 billion to $1.3 trillion. General merchandisers …

Unified Commerce Doesn’t Guarantee SalesRead More

You’re traveling through another dimension, not only of sight and sound but of mind. And that journey has taken you to Olive Hill, TN, population 1,424. And SIX dollar stores. That’s right, this tiny eastern Kentucky town has four Dollar General stores and two Family Dollars. That’s one dollar store for every 237 residents. And most of them were built in just the past few years. The signpost up ahead says it all: your next stop, the Dollar Store Zone. And some people are starting to say, “it’s enough already.” We hear the echo of what …

For a Few Dollars MoreRead More

When Walmart purchased Marc Lore’s Jet.com online business in 2016, it was supposed to be the start of an amazing new ecommerce strategy for the world’s largest retailer. It hasn’t quite worked out that way. This week Walmart announced it sold its Moosejaw outdoor business to Dick’s Sporting Goods, marking one more divestiture of Lore’s vision to onboard a group of niche higher end brands and make Walmart.com a true competitor to Amazon. Along with Moosejaw, Lore oversaw the acquisitions of Bonobos, ModCloth, the Shoes.com URL and several …

Walmart’s Deconstruction of Lore’s Legacy Continues with Moosejaw SaleRead More

As retail resale has evolved from Goodwill and the neighborhood thrift store to the myriad of recommerce websites, we have witnessed a watershed moment in fashion. Secondhand goods have become highly sought after by an increasingly demographically diverse group of consumers. And at the apex of this movement are Next Gen buyers. However, the duality of Gen Z’s sustainability mindset alongside their obsession with fast fashion is one of today’s major “squaring the circle” quandaries. Getting on the Brand Wagon With the growth of secondhand …

Upcycling and the New ReTailorRead More

Walmart versus Target? Check. Kroger and Albertsons versus the FTC and Congress? Check. Aldi versus Lidl? Check. Dollar stores versus...well, versus all of the above? Check. If you’re keeping score, 2023 promises to be one of the most turbulent years ever in the business of selling groceries, with skirmishes, battles and out-and-out wars happening across the entire channel. Just about every major player in the segment is in the middle of some sort of upheaval, major expansion or at the very least confrontation that together promise …

Food for ThoughtRead More