Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 3 →

Marketplaces

 There is a new trend emerging in the specialty retail space that is certainly worth understanding and may well be worth implementing for specialty retailers - particularly those retailers with significant brand loyalty to leverage.  To-date Amazon, eBay and Alibaba’s Tmall have accounted for about $365 billion in sales worldwide in 2016. And their marketplace momentum is growing (as an example, half of all merchandise sold on Amazon's site now comes from third-party sellers).  Read More

Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 2 →

Down But Not Out

Much of the news surrounding retail in the past several years has been focused on the growth of online retail and the relative decline of bricks-and-mortar stores.  With recent annual growth rates of 10-12% online, one might conclude that the continuing shift from physical stores to ecommerce is inevitable and might well foretell the demise of shopping malls altogether.

Not so fast…   READ MORE

Briefly Retail - Issue 2017 - 1 →

NRF 2017

Every year tens of thousands of retailers, vendors and marketers descend on the New York City area and Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to participate in what is arguably the largest retail show on the planet.  What can be remarkable is how unprepared some of us are when we get there.  If you are a novice to the Big Show, below are some critical tips from a variety of sources that can help to ensure that you have a productive, safe and more enjoyable experience.  Read More...

Briefly Retail - Issue 2016 - 9 →

Need a New Year’s Resolution?

The fallout of brick-and-mortar retailing continues, with nearly 1 billion square foot of retail space to be “rationalized” in the coming years through store closures and conversions to other uses, according to real estate information firm CoStar.  Revenue per square foot has fallen about 10% in mall stores over the past decade and all evidence suggests that this is going to continue.  Further retailer bankruptcies like The Limited, who is currently looking at its options for Chapter 11 protection, are sure to follow.  It seems like the Grinch may have made an early appearance this holiday season for some retailers as slow moving inventories and deep discounting take their toll.  Read More...

Briefly Retail - Issue 2016 - 8 →

Abracadabra

Likely the single largest obstacle to retailer profitability comes in absorbing the cost of fraud.  And the largest areas of fraud are caused by illegitimate returns and shoplifting. 

Overall, total annual merchandise returns come to about $260.5 billion for retailers in the United States, according to NRF.  But over 6% of that number is from people either abusing the return process or making fraudulent returns, accounting for nearly $16 billion in retailer losses.  The numbers are even more dire during the holiday season when overall returns come in at 10% (about 2% higher than the rest of the year). About 3.5% of those returns end up being fraudulent, a $2.21 billion problem.    Read More...