Category: Retail Trends

July 30, 2020

The excitement that typically surrounds the back-to-school season is being replaced by stress and uncertainty. Lack of clarity surrounding school reopenings, combined with lack of confidence in remote learning procedures, are driving big spending shifts among parents and caregivers. First, […]

July 28, 2020

As retailers take precautions to a new level to try to welcome shoppers safely back to stores, consumers are still wary of returning to bricks-and-mortar retail, a new survey says. Thirty-two percent of people feel unsafe or very unsafe visiting […]

July 28, 2020

When I served as U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce, one of our more common sayings was: “China isn’t for sissies.” In other words, foreign businesses in China are likely to encounter more complications, more unpredictability, and more frustrations than in their […]

July 27, 2020

Only 27 percent of U.S. adults anticipate seeing kids trick-or-treat on October 31, according to a Harris Poll taken in mid-July. Yet neither Hershey, Mars Wrigley nor Spirit Halloween are giving up on Halloween, retail’s third biggest shopping holiday. Hershey […]

July 24, 2020

Buoyed by increased incidents and new ways to steal, theft, fraud and losses from other retail “shrink” rose to $61.7 billion in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual “National Retail Security Survey.” The record haul by thieves […]

July 24, 2020

Ikea, Walmart and Peloton have become the latest major brands to pull their Facebook advertising spend but have all chosen to not announce it publicly. According to a new report published by Media Matters, Ikea paused its advertising on Facebook […]

July 22, 2020

America has a plastic bag waste problem. Less than 10 percent of the estimated 100 billion plastic bags used in the country are recycled. What’s left is often found on the sides of roads, in waterways and in landfills. The […]

July 20, 2020

Despite scientific evidence that masks, when worn by everyone in an indoor setting, are effective against the virus that causes COVID-19, the issue has become a political football. Officials of the Trump Administration, including the president, are rarely seen wearing […]

July 20, 2020

Anyone who thinks that downtown retailing is having a hard time during the Covid-19 era needs to visit any airport in the U.S. Retail and restaurant concessionaires there are on their knees thanks to forced closures and travel bans. Losses […]

July 17, 2020

According to the NRF’s previous research, retail shrinkage totaled $46.8 billion in 2017, indicating that retail’s shrink problem has continued to grow over the past few years. “Between an increase in incidents and new ways to steal, shrink is at […]