Retail - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Traditional Retailers Face a Harsh Future

March 9, 2016

With e-commerce now commonplace, traditional retailers are having a lot of trouble convincing customers to visit their stores. After all, online outlets allow people to order almost anything they need for the best price on the market. Brick and mortar retailers, meanwhile, must rely on promotions and holiday shopping since they can’t compete on price or selection. Even these strategies have become increasingly undependable, however. The most recent Christmas season saw sales rise by just 3 percent. In fact, the Continue reading →

Abercrombie & Fitch, Marketing, Bankruptcy, Sports Authority, E-commerce, Retail, Product Distribution

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Black Friday Starts to Fizzle

January 18, 2016

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For years the post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza known as Black Friday commanded the attention of the nation. Even if people didn’t leave the comfort of their couches, they likely watched in awe as a procession of news reports detailed the long lines forming outside of stores and the chaos that ensued when they opened. But these once standard scenes of retail madness are becoming increasingly rare. Although Americans’ love affair with holiday shopping shows no sign of stopping, customers may have Continue reading →

Black Friday, Promotions, Retail, Gimmicks, Marketing, RadioShack

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

America: The No Vacation Nation

July 23, 2015

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What do the United States of America, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Kingdom of Tonga all have in common? Aside from being decidedly long-named nations, none of these three countries requires employers to provide their staff with time off for holidays or vacation. In fact, the U.S. is the only advanced economy in the entire world without such a requirement. As a result, American workers have seen their vacation time shrink from an annual average of 20.3 days Continue reading →

Retail, Vacation, H&M, Global, Ethics, Human Resources, Benefits

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management

Target’s Wildly Popular Lilly Pulitzer Promotion

July 3, 2015

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Modern retailers stock so many items that consumers can usually buy whatever products they want whenever they want them. Still, a number of companies utilize limited-run sales and exclusive partnerships with brands in order to generate buzz about their business. Target is one of the biggest users of this strategy, teaming up with more than 150 companies in one-off joint ventures since 1999. The retailer’s latest gimmick sale brought them together with the clothing and lifestyle brand Lily Pulitzer, a Continue reading →

Promotions, Retail, Gimmicks, Target, Marketing, Lilly Pulitzer, Branding

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion

RadioShack Rides Again

May 21, 2015

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After years of declining sales, RadioShack finally seemed to be on the way out after filing for bankruptcy protection in February 2015. The electronics retailer had been a mainstay of American commerce for nearly a century, thriving off the sales of niche items like CB radios and pre-iPod portable music players. As technology became more commonplace, however, RadioShack struggled to keep up with the mainstream and settled into stagnation. Executives at the brand tried to reverse this trend by redesigning Continue reading →

Finance, Product Distribution, Bankruptcy, RadioShack, Marketing, Product Development, Retail

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Knockoff Products Take a Toll on Small Business

May 18, 2015

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In an earlier issue of the newsletter, we took a look at the methods that Chinese authorities use to curb the production of counterfeit merchandise. For the most part, these measures focused on reporting knockoffs of big names like Nike and Gucci. But combating pirated products isn’t solely the problem of multinational brands. For instance, in 2012 Jeff Sasaki took his iPhone accessory company Element Case to a Hong Kong trade show. When he arrived at the convention, he found Continue reading →

Regulation, Small Business, Ethics, Knockoff products, Manufacturing, Product Development, Retail

Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Credit Cards Switch from Strip to Chip

May 8, 2015

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Over the last few years, large retailers have become increasingly vulnerable to attacks by hackers looking to steal important company and customer data. In order to prevent these breaches, stores across the nation are upgrading to new credit card readers that scan an embedded chip rather than the card’s magnetic strip. Each transaction on a chip-card receives its own unique code, making shopping safer for consumers and companies alike. 575 million of these new cards are expected to land in Continue reading →

Currency, Credit Cards, Product Development, Retail, Innovation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Inside the Guts of Macy’s Herald Square

March 15, 2015

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At Macy’s flagship store, it takes a lot of action behind the scenes to keep this iconic retailer running smoothly.

https://nyti.ms/1wUBqAl

Questions:

What utilities are critical to Macy’s success in the retail market?

Why is the women’s shoe department at Macy’s such a massive size?

From The New York Times

Operations Management, Retail, New York, Macy's

Videos

The New Walmart Wage Plan

March 3, 2015

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For years, Walmart has been criticized for not adequately sharing its success with its employees. After all, the retailer is not only the largest private employer in the U.S. but also the largest retail chain in the world. With so much capital at its disposal, critics have long argued that Walmart has enough resources to spend on its staff. And now at long last it appears the retailer agrees. Last month Walmart announced a plan that will raise the wages Continue reading →

Retail, Walmart, Minimum Wage, Ethics, Human Resources, Labor Relations, Compensation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management

How GameStop Could Keep Going

February 23, 2015

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Like many other brick-and-mortar retailers, GameStop’s long-term financial health depends on how much damage the Internet can ultimately do to its bottom line. For years, though, the video game retailer seemed almost immune to the effects of web retail. Prices remained competitive thanks to the company’s dependence on reselling used games and consoles while its knowledgeable sales staff ensured that regular customers stayed happy.

Still, many experts are predicting that GameStop will go the way of Blockbuster sooner or later. Continue reading →

Product Distribution, GameStop, Video Games, Product Development, Entertainment, Retail, Innovation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media