In an effort to cut costs, Walgreens plans to close 200 U.S. stores, two years after it acquired Rite Aid and expanded its footprint to 9,500 stores. The closures are expected to cause “minimal disruption to customers and patients,” the company said in a statement, adding it will find jobs for affected employees in nearby locations.
Consumers are giving brands a huge thumbs down when it comes to the overall shopping experience. According to a new study from Oracle and Customer Bliss, an overwhelming 82% of respondents said they had a disappointing or upsetting shopping experience, and 78% said they had been dissatisfied with a customer service experience.
Global payments are getting much easier for customers to transact with retailers overseas. The advent of new technologies in the checkout experience such as Apple Pay and Amazon Pay is becoming more prominent as shoppers get more comfortable with mobile commerce. Here are some of the latest trends in global payments and how they are impacting the retail landscape.
GNC announced plans to close 900 stores or about half of its total portfolio, with a focus on underperforming mall locations, part of the overall trend of thousands of store closures as fewer people hit the doors with ecommerce growing.
Total back-to-school spending is expected to reach $80.7 billion, down from $82.7 billion last year, according to The National Retail Federation’s annual survey. Here is what retailers can expect from shoppers this school season.
Children might be at the beaches and just beginning summer camp, but back-to-school pundits are busy, with Deloitte predicting total spend of $27.8 billion, up slightly from $27.6 billion last year, for an average of $519 per U.S. household.
China and India are the most advanced in terms of cross-border payment technology and providing options to make the process as friction-free as possible, according to data from Worldpay. See what trends are shaping cross-border payments in Latin America and which markets are most popular for U.S. merchants to sell into.
Apparel and accessories brand Tuckernuck is increasing its conversion rates with user-generated content (UGC) as a way to share its brand as part of its email marketing and social media strategies. In this latest edition of the MCM CommerceChat podcast, we talk with Tuckernuck and Curalate about the impact UGC has had on the brand.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), whose members include Walmart, Target, The Home Depot and Best Buy, wrote a 10-page letter to the Federal Trade Commission dated June 30 urging the FTC to look into competitive conduct by big tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook.
Walmart announced plans to invest $1.2 billion into its China business to beat out competition. The company plans to invest the money into distribution centers over the next 20 years with a focus on grocery delivery.