A little more than a year ago, PYMNTS started tracking the race for the consumer’s whole paycheck between the two retail behemoths that have been expanding their respective ecosystems in the process: Amazon and Walmart. At the time, in November 2018, it became clear that...
Luxury brands like Mercedes and Tiffany & Co. are adding restaurants and eateries to their locations to attract a new generation of customers, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. The move seems to be working, as many restaurants have lengthy waiting...
U.K.’s high streets have been hit with the hardest times in a quarter of a century with the closure of 16,000 stores this year and 140,000 jobs lost, according to reports. According to a study by the Center for Retail Research (CRR), More than 2,750 jobs...
Nordstrom’s recently-opened flagship store in New York City has 320,000-square-feet of shopping across seven floors — and no less than 10 restaurants, making it a destination for eating as well as shopping, Forbes reported on Monday (Dec. 30). Customer service representatives will even bring shoppers...
Barney’s has given way to Saks Fifth Avenue, directing shoppers to the latter’s sites in these last days of the year, one of the latest changes in luxury retail in 2019. “The luxury retailer has stopped eCommerce transactions on its Barneys.com and Barneyswarehouse.com websites. The...
This year, eCommerce innovators welcomed consumers who wanted to rent — instead of own — their wardrobes, with clothing rental startups growing their reach through the help of new offerings and partnerships. And, in some cases, brick-and-mortar retailers brought these concepts to their own brands with...
Gift returns have become a holiday tradition in the U.S., with consumers anticipated to send back a record $100 billion worth of unwanted goods bought this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, The Financial Times reported. Last year returns from purchases made during the same period...
That Amazon is a widely lionized yet simultaneously imitated force in retail is not surprising. Ever since Amazon introduced a one-click checkout, a loyalty program that people willingly paid for, two-day shipping that has compressed to same-day delivery, attempts at reinventing retail by everyone in...
Christmas is now in the 2019 rear-view mirror. Gifts have been unwrapped, and 10 percent of packages are, or are in the process of being returned. This year, confident U.S. consumers spent, and spent big. According to Mastercard, sales are up 3.4 percent and eCommerce sales...