Resources

Beginning this fall in Lowe’s locations in the Bay Area, customers will have a new resource to answer their simple questions. Meet the LoweBot. A NAVii autonomous retail service robot that will be rolling out in 10 stores over the next 7 months. The LoweBot will be capable of scanning inventory and capturing real-time data,... Read more »

In an effort to get out of this year’s retail doldrums, department store retailers have been reducing prices on fashion brands they typically do not run promotions on. Promotions reached an all-time high in the last quarter, and in July over 2,000 emails advertising specials were sent to shoppers across the US. Some prices in... Read more »

Even before the Olympics started, the retail industry has experienced a big spike in athletic apparel. The growing popularity of “athleisure” clothing have helped athletic apparel see an increase this year of 14% to $45.7 billion as of the end of May. Now the Olympics are in full swing, and the athletes are all decked... Read more »

Back to School sales helped raise retail sales by .3% over the previous week and 2.5% over one year ago, following a four-week decline in June into July. Expectations are that Back to School sales will rise another 2.5% from July through September, which will be a successful repeat of the 2015 season. Discounters and... Read more »

Today’s $80 billion US beauty market will continue to grow according to a report by Euromonitor International. This growth rate will mean the beauty market will grow by 45% in 10 years. In 2015, the premium beauty category grew 7%, with premium foundation sales increasing 14.2%, compared to just 3% the prior year. Consumers have... Read more »

Department stores and general merchandise stores helped June have a strong increase in retail sales. Department stores rose .7% to $13.2 billion and general merchandise stores rose .4% to $56.1 billion. Overall, retail sales rose .6% in June, to $457 billion, above economists’ expectations for the month. “June’s retail sales grew at a solid pace... Read more »

After the housing crash of 2006, the US home remodeling market saw its worst downturn in history. Growth in home improvement spending has grown on average about 4.9% since then. Now, with home equity back and home prices on the rise, people are putting their cash to work to remodel and repair their homes. Growth... Read more »

The 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Retail Brands of the Year study results were announced, with several retailers getting high points for engaging customers. For the fourth straight year, 2 brands took top honors in their segment categories: The Home Depot for hardware and home brand of the year, and Kohls.com as online department store of... Read more »

As you look around your local restaurants, convenience stores and retailers, do you see people hard focused on their phones, and looking for something at that establishment you cannot see? Most likely these are users of the new, very popular, Pokemon Go app, getting explorers to go out into the real world with their avatars.... Read more »